writing.today.com

There’s a news story today that Facebook has backed down on a measure that has people up in arms… but I’m going to go out on a limb and question what the cafuffle is about.

According to MSNBC.com, “Users complained would grant the social-networking site the ability to control their information forever, even after they cancel their accounts.” Really?

Mark Zuckerberg, Facebook’s founder, had to step in to try and clear the air. Without the license, he said, Facebook wouldn’t be able to help people share information. “When someone shares a photo, a message or a status update telling friends what they are up to at the moment, they first need to grant Facebook a license so the site can pass that information along to authorized friends.”

On Sunday, the “popular consumer rights advocacy blog” (emphasis mine) Consumerist.com pointed out the changes to the Facebook terms of service.

Here are my problems with this:

1. Facebooks users are wrong. Why are users surprised when companies who offer a free service want to use patrons’ information to make money? If it’s made clear what information is going to be used, and at what level of anonymity, then what do you expect for using a free service?

2. Mark Zuckerberg is wrong. Obviously, he and his company have not made it clear what information would be used, and how. Transparency? They didn’t tell anyone! And now they’ve got to back-pedal and deal with a public relations problem.

And this isn’t the first time. MSNBC also reported that, “In late 2007, for example, a tracking tool called ‘Beacon’ caught users off-guard by broadcasting information about their shopping habits and activities at other web sites. After initially defending the practice, Facebook ultimately allowed users to turn Beacon off.”

So… they’ve learned nothing, obviously.

3. MSNBC is wrong. The entire article was slanted toward Facebook being the Big Bad Company, with little explanation of the actual details of the story. “Popular consumer rights advocacy blog”? Please. I now know more about Consumerist.com than I do about what Facebook actually changed in their terms of service. That’s pretty much the definition of bad reporting.

So what’s going to happen now?

Mark Zuckerberg wrote on the official blog, “Based on this feedback, we have decided to return to our previous terms of use while we resolve the issues that people have raised. We concluded that returning to our previous terms was the right thing for now.”

For now. Grief. I’m going to go have a cup of tea and pretend I didn’t read about any of this.