Facebook went back on its claim to ownership of any user posted material Feb. 18 and many Ball State University students didn't notice.
Yoichi Arakawa, physical education major, said he was not aware of the recent changes in terms. Upon learning about it Arakawa reacted with disdain like many of the site's users.
"I would not rest in ease if I knew my information is being spread around," he said.
Facebook changed it's terms of service Feb. 4, its fifth birthday. Suzie White, Facebook's corporate counsel for commercial transactions, wrote a note on the Web site explaining the changes and the importance of protecting users' privacy and information.
White said Facebook was consolidating most of its old terms into one central place. The updates would provide the same level of protection as always.
According to Associated Press reports The Consumerist, a popular consumer rights advocacy blog, was the first to point out the new sections included in Facebook's updated terms of use.
A new part in the termination section in Facebook's terms of use included its right to keep user's content after a user closed an account.
According to the Associated Press the change in terms brought a negative response from users, who protested by forming groups on Facebook.
Sophomore journalism major Tashae' Hedgespeth said she did not agree with the new terms of service and that everyone is entitled to their own privacy. However, users should read the terms of use in any Web site before accepting.
Three days later Mark Zuckerberg, co-founder of Facebook, wrote a note stating Facebook would change back to its old terms of service until drafting new terms of use with easier to understand language. Zuckerberg also created a new group, Facebook Bill of Rights and Responsibilities, and encouraged users to post feedback and new ideas for the terms.
Catherine Chen, associate professor of information systems and operations management, said many users, particularly students, do not realize the importance of posting personal information on social networking Web sites, such as Facebook, Twitter or MySpace.
"Maybe when you are 14 years old you don't really care," she said. "But think about how this could affect you when you are 40 years old. Will you want people to see that?
Chen said Web sites usually won't clear the users' contents, even if they have closed their account.
"Web sites don't delete your information," she said. "Nowadays storage is so inexpensive [Web sites] keep everything, and in this case, even if [Facebook] doesn't keep it, Google will. You'd be amazed by what Google keeps."
Chen said students should be more aware of what information they are handing out, as well as what they are reading before they agree to a Web site's terms of service.
"When signing, there is an agreement stating that the site will have the right to change their policies," she said. "Even if [all terms of service] sound the same, read them, so you have some idea on what you agree on."
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