Facebook With changes to privacy policy, has created a stir in the online world with photographers being one community that is voicing its concerns strongly. Amateur and professional are fearing that their photographs may be commercialised, but Facebook has assured that it will not ownership of its users’ data.
“The passage in our terms of service that covers your information and your content has not changed,” Matt Steinfeld from Facebook was quoted as saying.
“We can’t sell property that we don’t have. You own the things you share on Facebook,” Steinfeld added.
When they sign up on the site, users agree to grant Facebook “a non-exclusive, transferable, sub-licensable, royalty-free, worldwide license to use any IP content that you post on or in connection with Facebook”.
This license, however, ends “when you delete your [Intellectual Property] content or your account unless your content has been shared with others, and they have not deleted it”.
This license is required to allow Facebook to show that particular content on its platform. “But we can’t turn around and sell [it] without your knowledge or permission,”
Facebook also launched a Privacy Basics site that intends to explain in layman’s terms how you can control information that others see about you. The new site acts as an animated guide to see how others can interact with you and what you see.
Facebook’s recent privacy policy update makes its stand on user privacy clearer as it tries to simplifies things by including questions like “What kinds of information do we collect?” and “How can I manage and delete information about me?”
