Users: Facebook's getting 'grabby' with our data
— -- Facebook is having trouble dousing a firestorm over its trustworthiness.
A recent change in its terms of use — the legalese tacked onto the bottom of most websites — has sparked concerns that the social-networking giant plans to own its members' information forever.
Founder and CEO Mark Zuckerberg said in a blog post Monday that "on Facebook people own and control their information." But privacy advocates still aren't satisfied.
"I think in simple terms it's a tug of war over user data," says Marc Rotenberg, executive director of the Electronic Privacy Information Center (EPIC) in Washington. "People put information on a Facebook page to share with friends. But it's pretty much with the understanding that they're deciding what to post and who has access to it."
The controversy exploded Sunday after a consumer rights advocacy blog, The Consumerist, flagged a change earlier this month to Facebook's terms of use agreement.
Facebook removed language that said if you remove anything you've posted to Facebook, the company relinquished any rights to it with the exception of keeping an archival copy.
The Consumerist interpreted the deletion to mean that "now, anything you upload to Facebook can be used by Facebook in any way they deem fit, forever, no matter what you do later."
EPIC plans to file a complaint today with the Federal Trade Commission asking Facebook to go back to its original agreement.
On Facebook, more than 43,000 members have joined a community group protesting the language change. Overall, Facebook has 175 million members worldwide.
"Go ahead and be outraged," wrote blogger Amanda L. French after comparing Facebook's agreement with agreements at MySpace, Flickr, Picasa, YouTube, LinkedIn and Twitter. "Facebook's claims to your content are extraordinarily grabby."
In his blog post Monday, Zuckerberg acknowledged the "difficult terrain" and potential "missteps." "We take these issues and our responsibility to help resolve them very seriously."
