In recent days, the following “disclaimer” has been popping up like the chicken pox on a variety of Facebook profiles:
In response to the new Facebook guidelines I hereby declare that my copyright is attached to all of my personal details, illustrations, graphics, comics, paintings, photos and videos, etc. (as a result of the Berner Convention). For commercial use of the above my written consent is needed at all times!
By the present communiqué, I notify Facebook that it is strictly forbidden to disclose, copy, distribute, disseminate, or take any other action against me on the basis of this profile and/or its contents. The aforementioned prohibited actions also apply to employees, students, agents and/or any staff under Facebook’s direction or control. The content of this profile is private and confidential information. The violation of my privacy is punished by law (UCC 1 1-308-308 1-103 and the Rome Statute).
Sorry to be the bearer of bad news, but posting such a notice on your Facebook profile is about as effective as posting a “Don’t Eat Any Of This Candy” sign at a child’s birthday party — it’s useless!
You see, anyone who signs up for Facebook must first agree to their Terms of Service, which includes a bit of fine print that says anything you post to Facebook is theirs for perpetuity. Here is Paragraph 2, Section 1 of the TOS:
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). This IP License ends when you delete your IP content or your account unless your content has been shared with others, and they have not deleted it.
This fine print refers to the current Terms of Service, as well as any future revisions to the Terms of Service for life. Or in other words, all the photos, videos, status updates and quotes that you’ve posted to your FB account over the years are theirs to manipulate however and whenever they see fit.
So, go ahead and post all the copyright disclaimers you want. They mean nothing. The moment you agreed to the Facebook Terms of Service, you waived your right to such claims and you’re merely entertaining Facebook every time they see such fanciful-but-useless attempts to override their original agreement.
