Choose what you want to make public on Facebook

Stop posting the Berner Convention message on Facebook

It is a hoax!

Over the past 24 or so hours, I’ve seen quite a few people posting this message:

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!

(Anyone reading this can copy this text and paste it on their Facebook Wall. This will place them under protection of copyright laws. By the present communiqué, I notify Facebook that it is strictly forbidden to disclose, copy, distribute, disseminate, or take any other action against me on the basis of this profile and/or its contents. The aforementioned prohibited actions also apply to employees, students, agents and/or any staff under Facebook’s direction or control. The content of this profile is private and confidential information. The violation of my privacy is punished by law (UCC 1 1-308-308 1-103 and the Rome Statute).

Facebook is now an open capital entity. All members are recommended to publish a notice like this, or if you prefer, you may copy and paste this version. If you do not publish a statement at least once, you will be tacitly allowing the use of elements such as your photos as well as the information contained in your profile status updates.

Contrary to the belief of many users, posting the above message will not copyright anything that you post on Facebook. If you haven’t already read Facebook’s privacy guidelines, I suggest going through Facebook’s Data Use policy.

If you’re wondering if you’re information is being shared, Facebook clearly tells you that they don’t share personally identifiable information with advertisers.

We do not share any of your information with advertisers (unless, of course, you give us permission). As described in this policy, we may share your information when we have removed from it anything that personally identifies you or combined it with other information so that it no longer personally identifies you.

Then what do you do you protect your privacy on Facebook?

Facebook gives you several options to protect your privacy. You should configure the default privacy settings that governs all that you post. And you can always control what content you choose to make public on a post by post basis.

Choose what you want to make public on Facebook

E.g. I choose to keep my settings to Custom above which is shared with Friends excluding certain groups.

There is some information that is always public. This is your name, profile pictures and cover photos. If you are uncomfortable keeping this information public, you can always delete your account. This is an extreme measure and you will lose all data.

Remember the whole purpose of social networking is that you share information, depending on your level of comfort. Do not share any pictures or information that should not be shared. Once put on the web, it is very difficult to remove the information.

Lastly, if you’re wondering what the “Berner Convention” is? It is actually another indicator that the message above is an hoax. The actual term “Berne Convention” is an international agreement governing copyright, which was first accepted in Berne, Switzerland, in 1886

Have you configured your default privacy settings on Facebook?

[Via: TOI]

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