what the facebook/twitter thing actually does

[phosfate]

Originally posted by dawna at Facebook and Twitter Connect Information

My dearest LiveJournal friends list, I know you guys are upset and worried right now but..

I NEED YOU TO STOP WHAT YOU ARE DOING AND READ THIS

Im sorry about shouting in large font but this is really important and I need you guys to read this very carefully as a bit of a game of telephone is happening and some things need to be set straight. Not all of you misunderstand the feature but many of you do.

The new features that were relased yesterday regarding Facebook/Twitter Connect crossposting: news post // lj_releases post // FAQ 279

First and foremost. What exactly this feature does, is allows a user to easily repost entries or comments to Facebook and Twitter. The feature to post entries to Facebook is not new, it has been on the site for quite some time now and only affected public posts.

( The new feature has a few parts to it. )

Comments

[goddessdster.livejournal.com]

Thank you.

More people will probably listen to you than would ever listen to me.

[violetisblue.livejournal.com]

You and Facebook were.......BUDDIES, weren't you?

[ymfaery]

...huh. The big red shouty thing is almost the same shade as the orange on your journal. I'm having a hard time telling the difference.

[dr-tectonic.livejournal.com]

Word. UP.

My primary reaction to all of this has been: "If you have seekrit stuff you're posting under f-lock that you don't want getting out, and you're seriously worried about people who can read it rebroadcasting it willy-nilly elsewhere, via commentary-tickybox-repost or whatever, why do you have these people on that filter?"

This is not a problem created or solved by technology. It is a problem of asshaberdashery and poor befriendings-judgment.

[gossamerrain]

Thank you for tossing this up. I do understand and sympathize with all the people complaining about this but... for fuck's sake, it's not like this lays your ~*~PRIVATEST ENTRIES~*~ out to the internet at large. No more than the copy/paste feature does.

siiiiiigh.

[smolder.livejournal.com]

Aren't you usually the one inciting panic?

[kiyakotari.livejournal.com]

I do not like Facebook. I don't mean the idea of it, I mean the corporation itself. I don't like their business practices (http://www.businessinsider.com/facebook-is-taking-over-the-internet-why-isnt-everybody-freaking-out-2010-4), I don't like their policies (http://www.eff.org/deeplinks/2010/04/facebook-timeline) and content decisions (http://articles.latimes.com/2009/jan/13/opinion/ed-breastfeed13), and I don't like their politics (http://www.insidefacebook.com/2010/06/02/the-future-of-facebook-privacy-politics-and-advertising-revenues/). Since it appears Livejournal is climbing enthusiastically into bed with Facebook, I've ported my entire journal over to Dreamwidth. This is something I have resisted doing up until now, because I do not like the Dreamwidth styles system (I also do not care for the LJ S2 system upon which the Dreamwidth system is based, so I use S1), but the appearance of my journal is not as important to me as avoiding exposure to Facebook.

My concerns about these changes to LJ are not privacy based, unlike the majority of those commenting on the original news post. I don't have a Facebook, so I'm not worried about two separate aspects of my life somehow encountering one another. At least 95% of my journal posts are open, with no locks on them, and available for anyone who happens across my journal to read. And I don't think the people on my friends list are the type of people who would repost those that are locked. However, I do not like Facebook, and I want to keep myself as distant from that company as possible.

One of my (main) reasons for leaving LJ - and it's a not-yet-complete process, I fully admit that - is this.

Livejournal's TOS: LiveJournal claims no ownership or control over any Content posted by its users. The author retains all patent, trademark, and copyright to all Content posted within available fields, and is responsible for protecting those rights, but is not entitled to the help of the LiveJournal staff in protecting such Content.

Facebook's TOS: 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"). 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.

It's the "in connection with Facebook" part that really concerns me the most. It seems that, under the Facebook terms of service, intellectual property that I post on LJ which is then connected to Facebook by a crossposted comment would essentially belong to Facebook. Or at least, while I would retain rights myself, they would also be able to claim a ridiculously extensive series of rights to that property. I am not okay with this. A similar clause was the reason I left Geocities back in the 1990's.