Copyright -- Facebook and You

(Scroll to the bottom of the post to read the apology for using this horrible lead image.) Because Facebook.com, an extremely popular social network website (do I really need to introduce it?), is a great way to post photos of all your friends doing stupid things, it is also an easy way for your friends to see some of the amazing photos you have been taking.

I used to put some of my favorite photos that I'd take throughout the year and put them on FB because all my friends could see them; but after hearing a lot of little rumors in my Communication classes about Facebook.com and how they retain full copyright of whatever you post on it, I decided to to a little investigative journalism. I wanted to shed some light on their idea of the copyright of your photos.

I actually went to the Terms of Service page (you know, that page you never read when you sign up for things) and started reading the "User Content Posted on the Site" section; and I found something VERY interesting.



Heres an excerpt from the page:

By posting User Content to any part of the Site, you automatically grant, and you represent and warrant that you have the right to grant, to the Company an irrevocable, perpetual, non-exclusive, transferable, fully paid, worldwide license (with the right to sublicense) to use, copy, publicly perform, publicly display, reformat, translate, excerpt (in whole or in part) and distribute such User Content for any purpose, commercial, advertising, or otherwise, on or in connection with the Site or the promotion thereof, to prepare derivative works of, or incorporate into other works, such User Content, and to grant and authorize sublicenses of the foregoing. 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. Facebook does not assert any ownership over your User Content; rather, as between us and you, subject to the rights granted to us in these Terms, you retain full ownership of all of your User Content and any intellectual property rights or other proprietary rights associated with your User Content.

Since you probably skipped that whole paragraph, heres what it's basically saying. Until you delete the uploaded 'User Content' off Facebook, you are giving them the right to do whatever they want with that content a.k.a. You have just given Facebook , INC. and all partners, full license to use, sell, duplicate any of those sweet Red Hot Chili Peppers concert photos you took.

AND even after when you do realize what big mistake you are making and delete the content, Facebook, INC. still has the content (they have the right to archive anything they want) BUT they stop having the full copyright use of that content.

Now, you might be thinking, "Hey Mingo, Who cares? What will Facebook do with my photos from that Michigan Student Assembly meeting?"

Well, great question little photog. But you shouldn't worry about Facebook turning one of your photos into a billboard, but you should worry about all of their 'Partners'. Facebook has notoriously been know to trade profile information to it's partners and they could easily give your files for any company to use.

This, should also serve as a warning with any other website you use to host your images or any photography contests you might be thinking of entering. Read the fine print and MAKE SURE YOU ARE ABLE TO KEEP YOUR COPYRIGHT!!! There could be nothing worse than winning a D300 but realizing that that image you used to win it with is not yours for the next 5 years.

If you want some more information on copyrights and how to get your images copyrighted (yes, get a paper-trail going) then go to this site: Photo Business News and Forum.blogspot.com. This site, created and managed by John Harrington, has a lot of very important information that all photographers need to know from copyright issues, how to deal with photo requests, or how to pack your photo equipment.

-Mingo

( Because this post can't really be translated into an image - and I wanted to add a little color, I had to resort to using that pathetic 'Paint' file I created. Therefore, I am sorry.)