Facebook's Archiving of User Data Nothing New
Social Site’s Terms of Use Already States They Archive Members' Data
Dominating the blogosphere recently was news that the pokey, app-happy social site Facebook was planning to change its Terms of Use to say that it can archive and repurpose user data in perpetuity, even after the person's account has been deleted.
Outraged bloggers let fingers fly as they angrily keyed their opposition to Facebook's planned revisions to their Terms of Use. It just couldn't be allowed to happen that Facebook should turn into Big Brother, archiving away user's private data forever in perpetuity, to use however they want, even if users delete their Facebook account.
Hello? Has anybody actually read Facebook's Terms of Use? Because if they had, they would have realized that it's been that way all along.
Interpreting Facebook's Terms of Use
Pursuant to the section "User Content Posted on the Site," second paragraph, Facebook lays out user rights and exactly how Facebook can use members' data. Essentially it goes a little something like this:
- User directs and authorizes Facebook to make copies of member content as they see fit for storage and posting of User content on Facebook.
- User grants Facebook a license to use, display, reformat, copy, excerpt, translate, or distribute his or her content for any purpose whether it be for their own advertising or anything else. Furthermore, Facebook can create derivitave works of members' content or incorporate member's content into other works, and can authorize sublicensing therein.
- If User decides to delete his or her Facebook account, the licence User granted to Facebook upon registration expires. However, User acknowledges that Facebook may retain archived copies of his or her user content. In other words, Facebook retains the right to archive members' profile data in perpetuity, even if the User's account is deleted.
Among the host of legal questions raised by Facebook's current Terms of Use is ownership of content. To be fair, Facebook does make it very clear that the User owns all rights to their own content, with Facebook acting only as an intermediary to display that content.
But when Facebook members decide they want to delete their account and remove themselves from the site altogether, does that mean they relinquish all rights to their former content, and Facebook can then archive it and do what it wants with it? Or would Facebook be legally obligated to obtain the former User's permission to archive and/or repurpose User's private data such as pictures and text?
These are the kinds of legal considerations that Facebook will need to address in future changes to their Terms of Use.
Facebook's Public Response
On February 27, 2008, Mark Zuckerberg, Founder and CEO of Facebook, appeared in an interview on the NBC Today Show. During the interview, Matt Lauer asked Zuckerberg directly whether data would be stored on Facebook's servers in perpetuity should the user delete his or her account. Zuckerberg responded by saying that user information will never be shared by Facebook.
This means that Facebook won't share personal information, but that still doesn't answer the question of whether they would archive personal Facebook data on their servers in perpetuity, for possible use by Facebook when and how they want.
Though Zuckerberg is a young CEO at 24, he has quickly acquired a very refined typical never-answer-the-question-directly CEO style. Zuckerberg's response to Matt Lauer's question was a calculated attempt to obfuscate the issue by diverting the subject away from the archiving of data to the sharing of data, which is clearly different.
But what is clear is this. As of right now, as of this very moment, Facebook retains the right to archive members' personal profile information, even if the user deletes his or her Facebook account, in perpetuity.
This is what the bloggers missed - it's not future changes to Facebook's Terms of Service that is at issue, it is the current Terms of Service that needs clarification. But until Facebook comes clean, they will continue to reserve the right to archive and use member data however they please for as long as they please.
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