Apparently, despite the fact that it’s been heavily advertised and talked about, some Facebook users had no idea that the social media behemoth was going to become a publicly traded company. And now that they know, the dumber and more paranoid of its users have been passing around this:
For those of you who do not understand the reasoning behind this posting, Facebook is now a publicly traded entity. Unless you state otherwise, anyone can infringe on your right to privacy once you post to this site. It is recommended that you and other members post a similar notice as this, or you may copy and paste this version. If you do not post such a statement once, then you are indirectly allowing public use of items such as your photos and the information contained in your status updates.
And then it goes on to state…
PRIVACY NOTICE: Warning – any person and/or institution and/or Agent and/or Agency of any governmental structure including but not limited to the United States Federal Government also using or monitoring/using this website or any of its associated websites, you do NOT have my permission to utilize any of my profile information nor any of the content contained herein including, but not limited to my photos, and/or the comments made about my photos or any other “picture” art posted on my profile.
You are hereby notified that you are strictly prohibited from disclosing, copying, distributing, disseminating, or taking any other action against me with regard to this profile and the contents herein.
The foregoing prohibitions also apply to your employee, agent, student or any personnel under your direction or control. The contents of this profile are private and legally privileged and confidential information, and the violation of my personal privacy is punishable by law. UCC 1-103 1-308 ALL RIGHTS RESERVED WITHOUT PREJUDICE
Needless to say, legally speaking, this gives you all the protection of running onto an artillery range butt naked screaming “I’m a terrorist! I’m a terrorist!” The reality is, Facebook is technically a private network, so these laws don’t apply: Facebook’s terms of service apply. The only way to protect your stuff is to reconfigure your privacy settings so basically nobody except your friends can look at it, and only have your actual real-life friends on Facebook.
But we’re looking forward to our parents and that one guy from high school who posts those “repost this” charity whines circulating it endlessly. Hey, maybe we can add something about Bill Gates tracking it!
(Image courtesy allspice1 on Flickr)