Facebook is a Lifelong Commitment for Your Kids

by Elise Nersesian (Subscribe to Elise Nersesian's posts) Feb 17th 2009 3:00PM

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You already know that anything your child posts on the Internet can become fodder for cyberbullying, personal violation and even public humiliation. Now you can apply their private Facebook profile to that risk.

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The popular social-networking site discreetly made a change to its user Terms of Service in early February, according to the blog, The Consumerist. Facebook recently ruled that it has a perpetual license to use anything you post to your own Facebook private page -- even if you decide to terminate your account. As The Consumerist's headline reads: "We Can Do Anything We Want With Your Content Forever."

Sure, Facebook doesn't actually own your photos, random musings and status updates, but it can do whatever it wants with those things in order to promote itself or create or sell ads. What does that mean for your kids? Even if he or she isn't posting anything incriminating (which is in itself a dubious question), Facebook can license your child's photos for ad campaigns and more.

Does the fact that Facebook is a life-long commitment for your child make you uneasy? Most of us grown-ups abide by the rule that if you want to control what information gets publicized don't post your business online. But kids don't think that way. So while your teen may think it's cute to post photos of him and his pals messing around, those images may very well come back to haunt him. College applications? Yup. Employment? Why not.

Does Facebook's policy creep you out and make you reluctant to let your kid join the site? Or is this just an another aspect of the digital age?

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Comments (3)

Reader Comments (Page 1 of 1)

LS 2-18-2009 @ 8:39AM

Enough pressure, and they've back-pedaled. This was on my FB homepage this morning:

***

Terms of Use Update

Over the past few days, we have received a lot of feedback about the new terms we posted two weeks ago. Because of this response, we have decided to return to our previous Terms of Use while we resolve the issues that people have raised. For more information, visit the Facebook Blog (http://blog.facebook.com/).

If you want to share your thoughts on what should be in the new terms, check out our group Facebook Bill of Rights and Responsibilities (http://www.facebook.com/group.php?gid=69048030774).

***

The first bullet-point on that second link says, "You own your information. Facebook does not. This includes your photos and all other content."

and the second: "Facebook doesn't claim rights to any of your photos or other content. We need a license in order to help you share information with your friends, but we don't claim to own your information."

Still, it's a good reminder that we should ALWAYS read the EULAs or Terms of Service before signing up for ANYTHING. Too often, we just flip past them, thinking, "yeah, yeah, get me to the fun stuff", only to get all pissed off later when we see our kid's face promoting the latest version of Grand Theft Auto.

ttupper 2-18-2009 @ 11:13AM

Facebook and Myspace is not for children in my opinion. I do not know or will not allow my children to have their own private computers with internet access in their rooms until they are 18 years old and out of High School. It's just allowed in my home. I do not and would not let them have Facebook or Myspace accounts on the household computer, which is in full display and has parental controls. I personally have a Facebook account and met my husband on Myspace and we have been happily married for years. We have children ranging form 12 yrs -1 year, his mine and ours. While I like social networking I firmly believe it is not a place for anyone under the age of 18 and that is a firm rule in our home. So in my opinion it shouldn't even be an issue because under the age of 18 should not be allowed.

Purple Butterflies 2-18-2009 @ 6:21PM

Thank you for the heads up. I like to know how to protect my children. Just because Facebook renounces their claims to your photos doesn't mean the rest of the net will follow suit. That stuff can easily by copied and spread all over.
However, I don't believe in hiding this stuff from my children either. Forbidden things have tendancy to be extremely alluring to humans and especially to children. You can't watch them all the time. They go to school and to friend's homes. They WILL be introduced to it somewhere, somehow and if not their photos and comments will be uploaded to friends' pages. I have already taught my kids to use the computer. My daughter has an e-mail account at 9. Before I allowed her to get the account I discussed with her that she may only talk to people she knows. All else should be deleted without being opened. And I also explained why it was this way. She readily excepted and solicitations she received she promptly deleted. It will be the same with the internet. I will do it with her. Teach her what is appropriate and what is not and why it is not. Forbidding and pretending it isn't out there teaches nothing, Facebook is too handy as a means of social and business communication if used right. Teach them at an early age and that knowledge will go with them and grow with them.

DW Golden
Let in a little magic with Purple Butterflies, a new young adult novel now available at Amazon.