Facebook CEO Mark Zuckerberg is relying on the wisdom of
crowds to guide itsterms and conditions of
use.
Zuckerberg is asking Facebook members for their opinion on a new
set of governance principles formulated after
criticism that Facebook was "land-grabbing" all rights in
perpetuity to material posted on the social network site.
Facebook reversed its decision almost overnight. It now states,
"Facebook does not assert any ownership over your User Content
rather, as between us and you, subject to the rights granted to us
in these Terms, you retain full ownership of all of your User
Content and any intellectual property rights or other proprietary
rights associated with your User Content."
But he may have to revise the proposed new rules too. Clause
2.3, which lets Facebook use any material posted on the site for
its own purposes, has already drawn criticism.
The new rules are contained in two draft documents. The
"Facebook Principles" lay out the site's ideas on privacy and
control of information, while the "Statement of Rights and
Responsibilities" turn the principles into legal jargon.