How many Facebook posts of copyright security have you seen lately? Well, don’t bother copying and pasting the status, it is just a hoax.
The post reads something like this: “In response to the new Facebook guidelines I hereby declare that my copyright is attached to all of my personal details, illustrations, comics, paintings, professional photos and videos, etc. (as a result of the Berner Convention). For commercial use of the above my written consent is needed at all times!”
Facebook assured users, however, that the site has not changed any policies and that users’ pictures and information is their own.
“There is a rumor circulating that Facebook is making a change related to ownership of users’ information or the content they post to the site. This is false. Anyone who uses Facebook owns and controls the content and information they post, as stated in our terms. They control how that content and information is shared. That is our policy, and it always has been,” said Facebook.
Brad Shear, a Washington-area attorney and blogger who is an expert on social media, told ABC News that the message is “misleading and not true.”
Facebook’s terms are agreed on when a user account is created. The company cannot, even if they did for some reason create a new policy, go back and change terms on previously posted media, since that media is covered under the initial agreement.
Essentially, don’t bother with the status update telling your friends your information belongs to you. It is a hoax and will not do anything to protect anyone.
View Facebook’s legal terms here.
