Creative Commons Facebook App Licenses Your Facebook Content

This is really appreciated. Added immediately.

What exactly is Facebook allegedly doing with the pictures I post? Are they selling them to stock image companies? Cool-hunters trying to see what we're wearing/eating/buying? Anti-terrorist groups looking for WMDs in my beer glass?

YardanMaro

I'll second that.. just added this to mine too and passing the word on! :-D

Coffenated

O: interesting... thx ;D

Cristobal Ruffo

Thanks for this!

Added.

Craig Cabrey

Ok. Just thinking about this..... it's a Facebook app. An app gets access to your FB profile. Is this not just another app doing data mining?, leveraging people's worries about copyrights?

paintbox

@Michael Scrip: So basically they're just wanting legal room to operate on a practical level. ?

paintbox

There's content on Facebook???

paintbox

added!

gpzbc

The thing is, that if you made a picture, the rights belong to you, if there's a license next to it or not on the internet, it does not matter...

just make sure you can prove you have the original (for example; a high-res JPG file that is nowhere to be found except on your hard drive... maybe the people on the picture witnessing to you actually taking it on that day)

the CC licenses are only for people who want to show that others that they're open to the concept of selling pictures or giving them away...

just as every idiot puts a copyright mark under their website.... copyright is automatic.

Rene Wondergem

@YardanMaro:> "What exactly is Facebook allegedly doing with the pictures I post?"

I don't think Facebook would ever sell your photos.

While the language in their ToS sounds scary... it's just to explain what need to be able to do in order for you to use the site. I'll explain...

Facebook has the right to make a copy of your photo: Facebook takes your photo and puts it on all of their servers. It appears on your profile. If you tag someone else in your photo, the same photo appears on that person's profile too.... a copy.

Facebook has the right to modify your photo: Facebook compresses and resizes your photo upon uploading. They also make a thumbnail of your photo... which is considered modifying.

Facebook has the right to distribute your photo: Basically, Facebook needs to say this in order for your photo to be displayed ANYWHERE on the site.

And so on... So, these are just normal operations that they have to do for Facebook to operate. But, they have to say this up front so someone can't sue them because they made a thumbnail of their precious photo.

I know it's crazy... but people sue McDonalds because the hot coffee is hot!

You can dig deeper into the fact that Facebook will NEVER delete your stuff if you try to quit the site... but that's a different issue!

@YardanMaro: It's not what they -are- doing, but what they reserve the right to do. They can legally take anything you put on Facebook and use it for whatever purposes they wish - this application is there to give you control back.

Pretty much most people will either say "who cares?" over that, or they'll care very much.

Excellent first post Azadeh, and thanks for the great tip. I added it immediately. This is an easy solution to any present or future problems with Facebook's terms.

bwilson14

Added the exact same one as I have on my website. This is good.

Thanks for this... Added immediately as well...

First time on Facebook in weeks :)

AdamSnow

i think its a really good idea & i use it with other websites like DeviantArt but i dont think its going to stick :(

Riyan Grant

@paintbox:

Basically... yeah.

Flickr has the same language in their terms of service:

you grant Yahoo! the following worldwide, royalty-free and non-exclusive license(s)

you submit the license to use, distribute, reproduce, modify, adapt, publicly perform and publicly display

etc...

The language sounds scary... but if a photo sharing site isn't allowed to share photos... what good is it?

@Michael Scrip: Good breakdown.

hmm interesting, so if I CC non commercial my work, does that mean facebook cant put ads on my photo pages?

Also if I use the No Derivatives Licence, does that mean facebook cant allow people to tag me (adding names over the photo?)

SankeSolutions

How does this fit in with Facebooks Terms of Service? Does it override it, or complement them?

LorenzoQuadratus

I think most stuff people have on Facebook should be kept private - sticking a CC licence on it basically gives people the right to make it public without your consent. It's not really something we should be encouraging.

Better off keeping copyright on it (as best you can) and retaining as much control over how it is used.

KittyKittyKitty

@KittyKittyKitty: I understand your concerns, but I think they may be misplaced. Primarily, the association of a Creative Commons license with a photograph does NOT grant the publicity rights that you mention. This was the subject of a recent lawsuit filed against Virgin Mobile and, initially, Creative Commons.

The upshot of the case was that, without question, copyright is one consideration when using a photograph of a person in a public way, but is far from the only consideration.

That said, I suspect these personality and publicity rights issues would complicate a usage of a photo on Facebook, regardless of Creative Commons status, except in a few cases (like, if another user has taken a photo of you that you wish to use.)

parkerhiggins

@SankeSolutions: No, because CC licenses are non-exclusive, and you are entering a different non-exclusive agreement with Facebook when you upload the photos. (I think you check a box to that effect, even.)

So, per usual, Facebook retains the rights they always get, but other re-users get additional rights.

(I suppose this all presumes that the version other people interact with is, in spite of Facebook's resizing, automated cropping and what have you, still considered your work. I think that is a correct presumption, but IANAL.)

parkerhiggins

Thank you for sharing with us!!!

Kyaw Myat Thu