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Facebook Rescinds Policy Change
In a recent about-face, social networking giant Facebook has withdrawn changes to its user agreement that granted it control over user-generated content and information that would extend even beyond the cancellation of a particular user’s account. Consumerist.com first posted information regarding the policy change on its website. Leading privacy advocates protested these changes and were in the process of preparing a complaint to the U.S. Federal Trade Commission, which prompted Facebook to revert to its prior policy.
Facebook, however, argues that the changes were not meant to effectively change the way that the site uses user information. Rather, Facebook asserts that the changes are meant to be a clarification to reflect the technological fact that once a user sends another user content, a second copy is created that is now outside of the first user’s control. Facebook has undertaken to work with its users to come up with language that both reflects the reality of how content is used, while addressing the privacy concerns that have been raised.
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