Comments on: A social network’s TOS should matter to you

By: Amber Rhea

Amber Rhea — Wed, 18 Feb 2009 16:06:17 +0000

So, the site probably isn’t technically required to notify people, but could have avoided a lot of panic, outrage, etc. if it had.

Yeah, it’s one of those things where, sure it’s not REQUIRED to do it, but it’s just good business.

By: Rusty

Rusty — Tue, 17 Feb 2009 20:20:05 +0000

I’d agree that Zuckerburg’s response wasn’t adequate. It’s pretty messed up for a site that large to make such a drastic change to its TOS without notifying users.

Then again, I haven’t read the TOS all the way through, but I bet there’s something in there about “these terms are subject to change without notice.”

So, the site probably isn’t technically required to notify people, but could have avoided a lot of panic, outrage, etc. if it had.

While I enjoy using Facebook, I am going to avoid uploading anything there in the future that I care about maintaining my rights to. That’s probably a best practice on any site that you’re not running on your own.

And, finally, somewhat in Zuckerberg’s defense, I think he has a kind of valid point about email messages living in at least two places.

By: Jayson

Jayson — Tue, 17 Feb 2009 17:11:12 +0000

Thanks for addressing this, many people don’t read TOS policies, but they should at least skim it. I will say this if changes to a TOS results in 30% of people closing accounts, something would be done about it…that’s for sure.

Great article