Update 2/19/09: Facebook backs off Terms of Use changes…or does it?

Several days worth of bruising PR have forced Facebook CEO Mark Zuckerberg to post a response to the angry feedback from customers disturbed by a recent change to the company’s terms of use. The TOU changes seemed to give Facebook permanent permission to do whatever they wanted with material posted to the site by users, even after it had been removed. In his post, Zuckerberg said “Over the past couple of days, we received a lot of questions and comments about the changes and what they mean for people and their information. Based on this feedback, we have decided to return to our previous terms of use while we resolve the issues that people have raised.”

Popular Mechanics checked out Facebook’s TOU a few minutes ago to see how the language might have changed for the better. Here’s what we found:

"When you post User Content to the Site, you authorize and direct us to make such copies thereof as we deem necessary in order to facilitate the posting and storage of the User Content on the Site. By posting User Content to any part of the Site, you automatically grant, and you represent and warrant that you have the right to grant, to the Company an irrevocable, perpetual, non-exclusive, transferable, fully paid, worldwide license (with the right to sublicense) to use, copy, publicly perform, publicly display, reformat, translate, excerpt (in whole or in part) and distribute such User Content for any purpose, commercial, advertising, or otherwise, on or in connection with the Site or the promotion thereof, to prepare derivative works of, or incorporate into other works, such User Content, and to grant and authorize sublicenses of the foregoing. You may remove your User Content from the Site at any time. If you choose to remove your User Content, the license granted above will automatically expire, however you acknowledge that the Company may retain archived copies of your User Content. 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."

We are still a little suspicious of the “archived copies” language, but at least users are retaining ownership—whatever that means. Regardless of how this turns out, it has people paying attention to the legalese of end user license agreements and terms of use on public web services. A little public policing on that front can’t be bad. —Glenn Derene

Over the weekend, The Consumerist blog exposed a change in Facebook's terms of service (TOS) that infuriated many users and caused a good deal of public-relations backpedaling from the social-networking giant. The language of Facebook's TOS is, indeed, disturbing. It claims an "irrevocable, perpetual, nonexclusive, transferable, fully paid, worldwide license (with the right to sublicense)" to the content you post on the company's service.

While extreme, the company's claims on user content are by no means unique. PM covered the privacy issues surrounding online data collection as it relates to cloud computing and social networking in our January cover story, "Who's Tracking You." The list of snoops eager to spy on computer users is long and varied, from digital peeping Toms to government agencies to Web 2.0 companies. The lesson? Read those user agreements carefully and be careful when you post your intimate details—the Internet has a very long memory. —Glenn Derene