So… everyone raise your hand if you have seen (or posted) this message about “New Facebook Guidelines” in your Facebook Newsfeed?

“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 If you do not publish a statement at least once, you will be tacitly allowing the use of elements such as your photos as well as the information contained in your profile status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.”

 

WOW! What the heck is going on???

Well, frankly, not much… In fact, this message isn’t new at all. It’s just a hoax message that has surfaced several times over the years in many forms.

The fact is that if you copy, paste, and repost this message, you’re really not doing anything that will protect you or your content on Facebook. From a logical perspective, Facebook isn’t going to scroll through all of the countless status updates of over 1 billion Facebook users to see if you said it’s not OK for them to share your photos, etc. Even if they did, it wouldn’t matter.

Remember that when we all signed up for Facebook, we agreed to the Terms and Conditions. Yes, you do own the copyright (so to speak) to your photos and your content. But under the Facebook terms, you grant Facebook permission to use, distribute, and share the things you post.

So what can you do?

Know your privacy settings. When you are logged in to Facebook, click the drop-down arrow next to “Home” in the top-right corner of the page, and select “Privacy Settings” from the listed options. Click through the “Edit Settings” option for each of these items and adjust the settings to better control who can see what you post. Facebook does have the right to share your content, but ultimately you have control to say who can see it.

Remember that we are all on here for the social interaction. Unfortunately, part of this world includes people who love to create hoaxes to upset and confuse the users. Don’t fall prey to these hoaxes.

Here’s a good rule of thumb on Facebook. Most things that ask you to copy and paste are either fakes, scams, or spam. (Or at best, they are simply annoying…) When in doubt, just copy and paste the first few lines into Google to verify if there is any truth to the post. Sites like Snopes.com are always good for letting you know what”s good and what isn”t. Definitely check them out and save that site to your bookmarks!

There will always be hoaxes, but now you are better prepared to know how to deal with them.

What other hoaxes have you seen recently? Do you ignore them, or do you let your friends know they are hoaxes? Let me know in the comments.