CyberFootprint

It has come to everybody’s attention that Facebook has changed its terms of service. The official statement makes it quite clear why it has been done. Mark has also reassured us that there will be no such occurrences as misuse of information.

“In reality, we wouldn’t share your information in a way you wouldn’t want. The trust you place in us as a safe place to share information is the most important part of what makes Facebook work.”

Given that I am not a fan of conspiracy theories, I would say that our intellectual property and personal data won’t be used for the purposes of the Big Brother. Even if that would be the case, Facebook would had done it long time ago. The Consumerist also suggests that there is almost nothing to worry about.

What astonished me was the reaction of the Facebook users. Groups were created to boycott the change and many of the users voiced their dissatisfaction.

We can only assume what happened in the heads of the consumers. My best guess would be to blame it to natural resistance to change.

Another hypothesis explaining this behaviour may be that the users have joined Facebook under the impression that it is going to be a place where they will be in control. Sorry to disappoint, but that never happened. Even the old ToS were not as favourable towards the keeping of intellectual property. Who read the ToS back in the days? Nearly nobody. I didn’t either.

Maybe I was too skeptical to think otherwise, but I have always behaved on social networks according to a one simple rule.

Never post anything on social networking site that you wouldn’t like to be posted in The New York Times.

How do you treat your online presence?