Thursday, August 26, 2010

    Reminder: You Don't Own Facebook Content


    Just a friendly reminder that you should pay attention to the small print on Facebook and other social media platforms. Today, I received an email encouraging me to integrate AIM with Facebook. Never mind the fact I haven't used AIM in years, what struck me was the message's content. The subject mentioned one of my friends and the email body cited four of them as endorsing the product integration. Here's a screenshot of the email:

    So, I emailed my friends that were in the message and asked if they knew such a message went out. Knowing that the odds were 99% that they didn't, I wasn't surprised to receive these messages:

    Response 1: "(CENSORED)! I did install that a long time ago, but have since shut if off. No clue that they would blast an email w/my name all over it. How annoying."

    Response 2: "I think my phone tied them together, but I don't recall agreeing to anything."

    So, just remember... Facebook owns the content. And they may use things without your knowledge.

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