On 17 Feb 2009, Art Wolfe made an entry on his blog, entitled, "Facebook and Photographer Rights", where he points out finding that Facebook had made a major change in its user licensing terms that appear downright confiscatory regarding rights to posted material -- including photographs. If you contemplate posting your copyrighted material on Facebook (why, I can't imagine!), better read the fine print first.
Subsequent comments by others on Art Wolfe's blog indicate that Facebook may have retracted the language in the face of a firestorm of protest. However, who would be crazy enough to trust an outfit that would try to pull a stunt like that in the first place?
Here's the link to Art's posting, which includes quotes of the offending language that Facebook inserted (apparently unannounced) in their user license agreement:
I started using FB for some networking right before they made the change to the Terms of Use. I get asked now and then why I don't have wonderful photos on my FB profile and the reply is that until FB gets their TOU straightened out, I won't be posting many photos at all, and certainly nothing of any value.
A Cautionary re posting on Facebook
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