1) What if Facebook users wrote their own terms and conditions and include in it an assertion that not only do they own their own content, they own Facebook? Surely that would be as valid as Facebook’s attempt to own the user content.
2) If all of Facebook’s users started posting porn, and if Facebook makes a claim to own all content posted on the site, could we make Facebook the world’s biggest pornographer?
Okay. They’re rather silly thoughts. But then, the Facebook revised terms and conditions, and the rather sleight-of-hand way they attempted to put them in place, were rather silly too, albeit in a dangerous way.
I confess I’ve never really give a lot of thought to the question of ownership online, so I’m not entirely sure what my position would be, but I think it would circle around this: I don’t think I have a problem with others using whatever content I might put online unless,
a) someone other than me claims ownership of it,
b) someone other than me claims authorship, unless they actually are the author (unlikely since I write everything I post, for good or ill), and,
c) someone is using the content and generating revenue from it.
That last one would be a really big deal, for me. If you’re using content I’ve created to generate revenue, or to support the generation of revenue, I expect to get paid. In the case of something like Facebook, yes, people are posting content and, yes, Facebook is generating revenue. But I think the scenario is different in their case because what they are is a platform, that is what they own. There is an unarticulated assumption by users that they own their own content (pictures, posts etc.) and they are using the platform to share that content with others (their “friends”).
One of the reasons the ownership of content is a big deal is because if someone else claims to own what we create, and they can make such a claim stick, we have no control over how it is used. As for the revenue generating aspect, that’s a hot button for me. On the other hand, I have to admit that content (writing, design, art, film, music etc.) has essentially been commoditized and, in income terms, ain’t worth much any more.
But that’s another blog post.
(Hint: supply and demand applies. Lots of content plus absence of time, attention and critical thinking equals decreased value. You can work your butt off creatively but you’ll give it away for a song.)
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