The end of Facebook?

[MrsMo]

Recently I've been reading articles about how prospective employers look at an applicant's facebook page and use the information garnered there to influence their decision about hiring the applicant. Usually the articles have emphasized the negative aspects.

Next I read about some man with dual Thai/USA citizenship who has been arrested for the crime of "Le'se Majeste" because he put in a link on his facebook page to a book which criticized the Thai King and is banned in Thailand.

Today I read about a young man who has been banned from his college graduation ceremony because he wrote something on his facebook page which the college chose to see as a negative comment about the college.
What Caple is being punished for is encouraging his peers on SAC’s Facebook page to go to the school’s public meeting to argue for what he thought was the best way to respond to the tornado damage.
“Here it go!!!!!” he wrote. “Students come correct, be prepared, and have supporting documents to back up your arguments bcuz SAC will come hard!!!! That is all.The examples I've given here are just a few of the dozens I've read about - and I'm sure that there are hundreds of examples I've not read about and there are thousands of examples reporters have ignored. With all the possible negative uses of an individual user's facebook page, why in the world do people continue to use it?

(For those who want to read the story about the college student - along with the lame excuse the college gave for their action - here's a link to the story: http://news.yahoo.com/s/dailycaller/20110602/pl_dailycaller/studentprohibitedfromgraduationforfacebookcomments ;_ylt=AtoNMC0YRLB9HlnJ6FNywxXf47oF;_ylu=X3oDMTRsdm 4wamJzBGFzc2V0A2RhaWx5Y2FsbGVyLzIwMTEwNjAyL3N0dWRl bnRwcm9oaWJpdGVkZnJvbWdyYWR1YXRpb25mb3JmYWNlYm9va2 NvbW1lbnRzBGNjb2RlA3RvcGdtcHRvcDIwMHBvb2wEY3BvcwMy BHBvcwMyBHNlYwN5bl90b3Bfc3RvcmllcwRzbGsDc3R1ZGVudH Byb2hp )

[Kitz E Kat]

Good question. I guess for a lot of people they more or less have to have it in order to be 'in the loop'.
From the cases you quote it would seem a lot of people have yet to figure out how to use this new(ish) media, some are gonna have to learn pretty quickly!
I don't use it, but lots of people do and it seems to work fine for them. I guess you need to have your street smarts about you, but that applies to the internet in general.

[Apathy]

What's facebook....bitch? (Not MrsMo of course, I hastily point out)


Things like this (http://consumerist.com/2009/02/facebooks-new-terms-of-service-we-can-do-anything-we-want-with-your-content-forever.html) put me off completely.

[MrsMo]

I am including a quote from the article Apathy linked to in his comment in case the article disappears in the future and no one knows what was said:

“
You hereby grant Facebook an irrevocable, perpetual, non-exclusive, transferable, fully paid, worldwide license (with the right to sublicense) to (a) use, copy, publish, stream, store, retain, publicly perform or display, transmit, scan, reformat, modify, edit, frame, translate, excerpt, adapt, create derivative works and distribute (through multiple tiers), any User Content you (i) Post on or in connection with the Facebook Service or the promotion thereof subject only to your privacy settings or (ii) enable a user to Post, including by offering a Share Link on your website and (b) to use your name, likeness and image for any purpose, including commercial or advertising, each of (a) and (b) on or in connection with the Facebook Service or the promotion thereof.
”

That language is the same as in the old TOS, but there was an important couple of lines at the end of that section that have been removed:

“
You may remove your User Content from the Site at any time. If you choose to remove your User Content, the license granted above will automatically expire, however you acknowledge that the Company may retain archived copies of your User Content.
”

Furthermore, the "Termination" section near the end of the TOS states:

“
The following sections will survive any termination of your use of the Facebook Service: Prohibited Conduct, User Content, Your Privacy Practices, Gift Credits, Ownership; Proprietary Rights, Licenses, Submissions, User Disputes; Complaints, Indemnity, General Disclaimers, Limitation on Liability, Termination and Changes to the Facebook Service, Arbitration, Governing Law; Venue and Jurisdiction and Other. ”One of the things that jumps out at me on this new TOS is the statements in the first section that says Facebook can modify, edit and in general treat your material in any way they wish. That seems to mean that they can take statements out of context, change your wording, use your images in a demeaning manner or change them to show you at a crime scene; they can do that anytime in the future and you - or your family if you are deceased - can't do a thing about it.

Granted, Facebook will only have these rights on information you put on your public pages but I STILL want to know, especially in the light of this TOS, why anyone would have a Facebook page.