Tech | February 18, 2009 | 5 comments

Facebook decides to change back to original terms of use after outrage

source: http://blog.facebook.com/blog.php?post=54746167130

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mar2194
A couple of weeks ago, we revised our terms of use hoping to clarify some parts for our users. Over the past couple of days, we received a lot of questions and comments about the changes and what they mean for people and their information. Based on this feedback, we have decided to return to our previous terms of use while we resolve the issues that people have raised.

Many of us at Facebook spent most of today discussing how best to move forward. One approach would have been to quickly amend the new terms with new language to clarify our positions further. Another approach was simply to revert to our old terms while we begin working on our next version. As we thought through this, we reached out to respected organizations to get their input.

Going forward, we've decided to take a new approach towards developing our terms. We concluded that returning to our previous terms was the right thing for now. As I said yesterday, we think that a lot of the language in our terms is overly formal and protective so we don't plan to leave it there for long.

More than 175 million people use Facebook. If it were a country, it would be the sixth most populated country in the world. Our terms aren't just a document that protect our rights; it's the governing document for how the service is used by everyone across the world. Given its importance, we need to make sure the terms reflect the principles and values of the people using the service.
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5 comments // Facebook decides to change back to original terms of use after outrage

  • afishlikeme
  • Mr_Costello
    • 0
      Mr_Costello  

    • Petrifying. Vimeo too currently has the right to make money with your uploaded videos until you remove it from the site plus the "commercially reasonable time". Vimeo can show your videos and allow other people to show it for money.

      This is a concrete abomination for those artists in the moving image industry. The most alarming flexible term in the license is the concept "commercially reasonable time". If Vimeo wants, they could try to enforce a time period of months or years!!

    • 3 years ago
  • adamclarkestes
  • abbym0308
  • mar2194
    • 0
      mar2194  

    • The server is overloaded right now because there are so many people trying to view the article. It should be viewable tomorrow.

    • 3 years ago
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