By Ashley Bowmaster
CNN: The Hoax says that you have to copy and paste this message in order to retain the private status of your Facebook Profile:
“Now it’s official! It has been published in the media. Facebook has just released the entry price: $5.99 to keep the subscription of your status to be set to ‘private.’ If you paste this message on your page, it will be offered free (paste not share) if not tomorrow, all your posts can become public. Even the messages that have been deleted or the photos not allowed. After all, it does not cost anything for a simple copy and paste.”
This is at least the third story of Facebook profiles going public since 2012. “While there may be water on Mars, don’t believe everything you read on the Internet today. Facebook is free and it always will be,” the company said. “And the thing about copying and pasting a legal notice is just a hoax. Stay safe out there Earthlings!”
Terms of Service: “You own all of the content and information you post on Facebook, and you can control how it is shared through your privacy and application settings.”
CBS: This source states that not only is the privac setting hoax going around (in this version costing 5.99 in British pounds, or $9.10, but also an older hoax saying that the only way to protect your photos and statuses is to post a stated saying that you do not give facebook permission to use them:
As of September 28th , 2015 at 10:50p.m. Eastern standard time, I do not give Facebook or any entities associated with Facebook permission to use my pictures, information, or posts, both past and future. By this statement, I give notice to Facebook it is strictly forbidden to disclose, copy, distribute, or take any other action against me based on this profile and/or its contents. The content of this profile is private and confidential information. The violation of privacy can be punished by law (UCC 1-308- 1 1 308-103 and the Rome Statute). NOTE: Facebook is now a public entity. All members must post a note like this. If you prefer, you can copy and paste this version. If you do not publish a statement at least once it will be tactically allowing the use of your photos, as well as the information contained in the profile status updates.
To explain further, the social media network continues: “For content that is covered by intellectual property rights, like photos and videos (IP content), you specifically give us the following permission, subject to your privacy and application settings: you grant us a non-exclusive, transferable, sub-licensable, royalty-free, worldwide license to use any IP content that you post on or in connection with Facebook (IP License).”
However, the IP license ends when you delete your IP content or your account, Facebook stated. If a user chooses to delete IP content, it’s deleted in a manner “similar to emptying the recycle bin on a computer.”
As a side note, another hoax offering a dislike button in exchange for personal information or money is not real
SNOPES:
As to be expected, Snopes dubbed this circulation FALSE. In any case, Facebook users cannot retroactively negate any of the privacy or copyright terms they agreed to when they signed up for their accounts, nor can they unilaterally alter or contradict any new privacy or copyright terms instituted by Facebook, simply by posting a contrary legal notice on their Facebook walls.
If you don’t agree with Facebook’s policies, though, you have a few options besides reposting a copy-and-pasted “privacy notice.” Via Snopes, you can:
• Not sign up for a Facebook account in the first place.
• Negotiate a modified privacy policy with Facebook (good luck with that).
• Ask Facebook to amend its policies.
• Delete your Facebook account.
ABC: “We have noticed some statements that suggest otherwise and we wanted to take a moment to remind you of the facts — when you post things like photos to Facebook, we do not own them,” Facebook spokesman Andrew Noyes said in a statement. “Under our terms you grant Facebook permission to use, distribute, and share the things you post, subject to the terms and applicable privacy settings.”
Brad Shear, a Washington-area attorney and blogger who is an expert on social media, said the message [that Facebook users are posting to their walls is] “misleading and not true.” He said that when you agree to Facebook’s terms of use you provide Facebook a “non-exclusive, transferable, royalty-free, worldwide license to use any content you post. You do not need to make any declarations about copyright issues since the law already protects you. The privacy declaration [in this message] is worthless and does not mean anything.”
TechTalk: While the social network does not technically own its members content, it has the right to use anything that is not protected with Facebook’s privacy and applications settings. For instance, photos, videos and status updates set to public are fair game.
John Oliver: “You might as wel post this picture of a sloth revealing a woman’s cleavage, because it would grant you, literally, the same legal rights.” “Posting these statements is meaningless, no matter how serious their language may be.”
DailyMail: The latest scam plays on widespread fears that Facebook is misusing user data.Last week, the company was accused of spying on users in a fashion similar to methods used by America’s National Security Agency (NSA). The comments were made by the Belgian Privacy Commission who brought a lawsuit against the social network, after accusing it of ‘trampling all over European privacy laws’. Frederic Debussere, a lawyer representing the privacy commission, made the comparison with the NSA during opening statements. ‘When it became known that the NSA was spying on people all around the world, everybody was upset. ‘This actor [Facebook] is doing the very same thing, albeit in a different way.’ The data protection authority, which accuses Facebook of tracking non-users and those who have logged out of their accounts for advertising purposes, is threatening Facebook with a fine of 250,000 euros each day.