facebook

Facebook's terms of service (TOS) used to say that when you closed an account on their network, any rights they claimed to the original content you uploaded would expire. Not anymore.

Now, anything you upload to Facebook can be used by Facebook in any way they deem fit, forever, no matter what you do later. Want to close your account? Good for you, but Facebook still has the right to do whatever it wants with your old content. They can even sublicense it if they want.

I had no idea that their TOS were like this for so long. Really, the only change being made now is that when you close your account, the license to them still exists.

FACEBOOK is planning to exploit the vast amount of personal information it holds on its 150 million members by creating one of the world's largest market research databases.

In an attempt to finally cash in on the social networking site, once valued at $US15 billion ($23.6 billion), it will soon allow multinational companies to selectively target its members in order to research the appeal of new products. Companies will be able to pose questions to specially selected members based on such intimate details as whether they are single or married and even whether they are gay or straight.

Think of it: Sitting back for 8-10 months, (even a few years), maybe friending everyone and posing as an incoming student. Think of the data collection. The opportunities down the road to push affiliate links. The opportunity to appear to be an 'Admin' of Your School Class of 2013. The chance to message alumni down the road. The list of possibilities goes on and on and on.

I've said many times, step back and let the student group start on its own. Today, I change that position. It seems that we have been gamed, and we need to at least own the admin rights to the group in an effort to protect our incoming students. To end the possibility of them being pushed ads and "buy these sheets for college" stuff this summer. You know there is a motive behind all of this. And you know it has to do with money. And you KNOW you're going to get calls about it when it happens.

This will always be an issue on the Internet. If you're on someone else's site, there will always be people who try and beat you to something. Identity will be more and more of an issue. You can't fight back by creating a new group and calling it "official" because there is really no official class of 2013 group. Facebook itself isn't an official anything, that's why everyone likes it. If you want an "official" place online for you to talk to your classmates, have your school create it, host it and vet access to it.

The bill was announced this afternoon and promised a bridging of the technological gap between young and old. "We have to admit that life is different than when we were growing up," said Assemblyman Joseph R. Lentol. "We have to have educational programs so that parents know about MySpace and Spacebook and..."

Uh, did he just say "Spacebook?"

O.K., well, Mr. Lentol, a Brooklyn Democrat, did admit he was out of his depth. "When we were young, things were different. And we need to pass legislation that reflects today's world, not yesterday's world," he continued. "Old geezers like me have no clue about the Internet and all of its intricacies."

1. Get a friend of yours to download, using Facebook, the ten most popular books at every college (manually -- as not to violate Facebook's ToS). These ten books are indicative of the overall intellectual milieu of that college.
2. Download the average SAT/ACT score for students attending every college.
3. Presto! We have a correlation between books and dumbitude (smartitude too)!