- The Facebook photo-sharing permission scam seems to be circulating again. Make sure that you do not fall for it.
One of the most frequently circulated scams on Facebook is about the social network gaining ownership to your photos. Many Facebook users copy and paste this message on their status posts:
“Don’t forget tomorrow starts the new Facebook rule where they can use your photos. Don’t forget Deadline today!!! It can be used in court cases in litigation against you. Everything you’ve ever posted becomes public from today Even messages that have been deleted or the photos not allowed. It costs nothing for a simple copy and paste, better safe than sorry. Channel 13 News talked about the change in Facebook’s privacy policy. I do not give Facebook or any entities associated with Facebook permission to use my pictures, information, messages or posts, both past and future. With 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 If you do not publish a statement at least once it will be tacitly allowing the use of your photos, as well as the information contained in the profile status updates. FACEBOOK DOES NOT HAVE MY PERMISSION TO SHARE PHOTOS OR MESSAGES.”
Here is a screenshot from someone who posted it:
The scam is believed to have originally appeared back in 2012.
Facebook does not claim copyright to your personal information like photos, videos, etc. And Facebook has not announced any plans to make all posts public.
Facebook points out that its users own the “intellectual property (IP) that is uploaded to the social network, but depending on their privacy and applications settings, users grant the social network ‘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).” That clause essentially safeguards Facebook from getting sued for hosting photos and videos that are uploaded by its users.
It’s also worth mentioning that posting a statement on a Facebook Page does not provide any legal protections and it does not alter Facebook’s privacy policy.
