XP - Must read for all Facebook users

[ESF]

I posted on CEP but it's important enough that I thought I'd share here as well. Sorry if this has been posted already - I've been traveling and buried under work.

But, please read and take the time to vote. This is important stuff. If anyone wants to steal my Facebook status on the issue, here it is:

For once, here are some REAL steps that you can take to protect your rights on Facebook. Go to the Facebook Site Governance page linked in the article, and vote to keep the "existing documents." If enough people vote against the proposed changes, Facebook users will retain the right to comment on privacy policies. Read, know your rights, vote, and share.

consumerist.com/2012/12/04/facebook-wants-you-to-vote-on-policy-that-wouldnt-let-you-vote-on-future-policies/



Facebook Wants You To Vote On Policy That Wouldn’t Let You Vote On Future Policies
December 4, 2012 By Mary Beth Quirk


Facebook is at it again, this time asking its users to vote on some new changes to its data use policy and statement of rights and responsibilities. The kind of stuff that you might ignore, if you didn’t know that allowing the changes would mean you can’t vote on policy changes in the future. Users have until Dec. 10 at 3 p.m. ET to vote, and so far most people aren’t in favor of the changes. Surprising.

On the Facebook Governance voting page about 6,000 users had voted in favor of the new policy, while a whopping 65,000 were having none of it. It’ll take 30% of all active users to prevent the changes proposed by Facebook — and if turnout is lower than that “the vote will be advisory.”

A successful vote for Facebook would end the current “site governance process,” which would be the death knell of future user votes on policy changes. That could open the door to a whole slew of things we’re sure people wouldn’t want to agree to.

Oh, but there’s more! A provision is included that permits Facebook to share your information with affiliates, claiming such an action is no big deal. After all, says Facebook, it ”is standard in the industry and promotes the efficient and effective use of the services Facebook and its affiliates provide.” Well, if it’s standard it must be good, right? That’s up to you.

If you want to be heard, get on over there by next week and chime in, or forever (and really, it’ll be forever) hold your peace.



Another article on the subject --

techcrunch.com/2012/12/03/facebook-users-vote-on-vote/

[UMaineTeach]

just curious - what prevents them from changing the policy without a vote to begin with?
can't they just change any policy at anytime by virtue of being a business and having rights to change how they conduct business?

and if anyone was going to vote I would think it would just be shareholders for a publicly traded co.

there are so many reasons I am not in business...

[ESF]

Dec 4, 2012 21:40:47 GMT -5 UMaineTeach said:

just curious - what prevents them from changing the policy without a vote to begin with?
can't they just change any policy at anytime by virtue of being a business and having rights to change how they conduct business?

Because Facebook has a contract with users.

When you sign up for Facebook, you agree to certain terms and conditions, but Facebook also agrees to certain things as well. The agreement between Facebook and its users says that users get the right to comment and vote on changes. They can't take that away without allowing people the opportunity to comment and vote on it. It's part of the contract. They'd be sued if they violated it.

[LoveTrains]

Thanks, I voted.

[Deleted]

I am very surprised that Facebook ever was a democracy.

[Deleted]

P.S. -- I just got an email from Facebook about this, so I don't think it is something that they're hiding.

[raangoli]

Ironic. When I go to their Site Governance page, it tells me an error has occurred.

[ESF]

Dec 5, 2012 10:15:59 GMT -5 v said:

P.S. -- I just got an email from Facebook about this, so I don't think it is something that they're hiding.

Well they are obligated under the terms of service to disclose it.

But, the seven day voting period started yesterday, and they had an online chat session about it yesterday morning. If they really wanted to increase participation and awareness, they would have taken steps to notify people before the voting period started and informed them of the information session.

[Susie]

voted!

thanks for pointing this out. All my emails from FB wind up buried in spam, which around the holidays is so full of sale emails that I'd never find it.