When I first read the brief for this week, it hit me that I’ve never gotten past the first page of any Term of Service agreement that I’ve ever agreed to. While I’m sure I’m not alone in this, it’s scary when you think about what you’ve causally yet legally agreed to. It’s even more shocking when you find out about all the privileges and entitlements sites like Facebook and Twitter have allowed themselves with the knowledge that most of us are too lazy to read through the 100+ pages of Terms and Conditions. However amongst that all that waffle and padding is some very relative information regarding our privacy and personal ownership. For instance, once a photo is uploaded to most mainstream social networking sites they have full rights to use that image as they please as it is now their property.
Also, while many of us set our profiles (and hopefully events!) to private Facebook and Twitter and legally within their rights to sell detailed and personal information that has innocently been uploaded to advertising companies and make a substantial profit from it. Although while writing this, it is difficult to point the fingers at the companies that have provided use with all the information up front and have given us the choice to say no. So while we may be selling our soul when we hit that I agree button it’s hardly Mark Zuckerburg’s responsibility to pick up the pieces of our dignity when drunken tweets or pictures of your cat wearing a cowboy hat end up in a coffee table book is it?
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