The following is Part 2 of the excellent article written by my daughter Ivy Lopez Cabaltica, a US-based lawyer:
In the first place, FB users volunteer all their personal information and posts. We fill out all the blanks and answer all the prompts. It’s easy to forget that we are talking to a machine when it seems so interested in us! FB wants to know more! So we give it more information about ourselves, because we are just so interesting, right?
“When you publish content or information using the Public setting, it means that you are allowing everyone, including people off of Facebook, to access and use that information, and to associate it with you (i.e., your name and profile picture).” (FB Terms)
But once you publish on FB, you give FB permission to use it. FB Terms clearly state:
“For content that is covered by intellectual property rights, like photos and videos (IP content), you specifically give us the following permission, subject to your privacy and application settings: you grant us a non-exclusive, transferable, sub-licensable, royalty-free, worldwide license to use any IP content that you post on or in connection with Facebook (IP License). [underline added]
“This IP License ends when you delete your IP content or your account unless your content has been shared with others, and they have not deleted it. When you delete IP content, it is deleted in a manner similar to emptying the recycle bin on a computer. However, you understand that removed content may persist in backup copies for a reasonable period of time (but will not be available to others).”
Every FB user automatically allows advertising with the use of our public profile. Likewise, minors on FB are presumed to have their parents’ consent.
“Our goal is to deliver advertising and other commercial or sponsored content that is valuable to our users and advertisers. In order to help us do that, you agree to the following:
“You give us permission to use your name, profile picture, content, and information in connection with commercial, sponsored, or related content (such as a brand you like) served or enhanced by us. This means, for example, that you permit a business or other entity to pay us to display your name and/or profile picture with your content or information, without any compensation to you. If you have selected a specific audience for your content or information, we will respect your choice when we use it. If you are under the age of eighteen (18), you represent that a parent or legal guardian also agrees to this section on your behalf.”
“We do not give your content or information to advertisers without your consent.”
Opening a Facebook account is like filling out an application for a mobile carrier. We give them our data and the carrier likely shares our public information with interested businesses. Credit card companies routinely sell cardholders’ data with their affiliates so they can advertise to specific income groups.
Even if we limit all our posts and shares to our circle of FB Friends, all our posts are considered published under the law since they are made known to a third person. The breadth of exposure is not what matters, it’s the fact of sharing it with another person. As with secrets, the moment we divulge it to someone, we can expect it to be eventually revealed and we can’t really control how it will spread.
And that’s the point of Facebook. We want to share online and FB allows us to do that for free. We cannot expect much privacy when we use a network because it is necessarily interconnected and we need to leave a digital trail so we can use apps or go to other websites.
When FB shares our public profile, it seems a violation of our trust because our content is personal. But all our content came from us anyway. How important is it for us to avail of FB’s free online service versus our claim to privacy?
We need to remember that anytime we are online, our movements can be tracked and we are digitally monitored.
“Keep in mind when you install an app, you give it permission to access your public profile, which includes your name, profile pictures, username, user ID (account number), networks and any info you choose to make publicly available. You also give the app other info to personalize your experience, including your friends list, gender, age range and locale.” (FB Terms)
Every time you see the FB icon, FB Share, or Like icon, that is linked to FB’s tracking system. So your activity on that page is also seen by FB. You can also be tracked if you use FB products like Messenger and Instagram and if you download FB apps on your phone or device.
FB uses cookies to track us. “Cookies are small pieces of text used to store information on web browsers. Cookies are used to store and receive identifiers and other information on computers, phones, and other devices.” (https://www.facebook.com/policies/cookies)
“We use cookies if you have a Facebook account, use the Facebook Products, including our website and apps, or visit other websites and apps that use the Facebook Products (including the Like button or other Facebook Technologies).” (FB Terms)
But even if we are not logged into FB, FB tracks us automatically “for security purposes” to make sure those not signed in to FB cannot scrape user information. It sounds bad, but it’s similar to the security measure of watching mall shoppers who don’t really enter any shop but roam around the mall. FB tracks us to secure our accounts from spam, phishing, malware, and prohibited acts. This cannot be turned off.
FB also uses cookies to observe our online behavior to improve their service, match us with suitable ads, and measure ad performance.
Zuckerberg should first have asked Congress how many were on FB because there were some questions that revealed ignorance about how FB works. One senator asked if FB can read and save his text messages. No, they are encrypted, MZ said. Another asked how FB makes money.