A recent pop up message claiming to be the newest Facebook copyright contract has been spreading through social media. The message has been telling people to copy and paste the new copyrights onto the users’ walls.
The notification that pops up states, “In response to the new Facebook guidelines, I hereby declare that my copyright is attached to all of my personal details, illustrations, comics, paintings, professional photos and videos, etc. (as a result of the Berner Convention). For commercial use of the above my written consent is needed at all times!”
The message is indeed not true and a hoax, and Facebook spokesman Andrew Noyes wanted to remind the social media community that, “We have noticed some statements that suggest otherwise and we wanted to take a moment to remind you of the facts — when you post things like photos to Facebook, we do not own them. Under our terms, you grant Facebook permission to use, distribute, and share the things you post, subject to the terms and applicable privacy settings.”
When a user signs up for Facebook they are responsible for reading over and agreeing with the copyright terms that they have posted. Brad Shear, a Washington attorney and social media expert states that, “non-exclusive, transferable, royalty-free, worldwide license to use any content you post. You do not need to make any declarations about copyright issues since the law already protects you. The privacy declaration [in this message] is worthless and does not mean anything.” So pretty much this is just a fake post that wants the Internet to get stirred up because it wants them to feel vulnerable. This kind of message spread throughout Facebook just a couple years ago, and it quickly died out with no real solution or result.
Via ABC News
