A lot is happening on Cyber Monday today! A Facebook hoax gets some users to think that they own the copyrights to any and all material posted on their pages. Reality of the situation is–you don’t. The post that has stumbled it’s way onto some users timelines says: “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!”
This post is encouraging other Facebook users to post it on their walls. There are no “new Facebook Guidelines” the Berner Convention is in reference to the Berne Convention and users are only bound to the terms and conditions set up by Facebook. In these terms it states that users “own” all of their content, and can control who sees it by their privacy settings. This does not give a Facebook user the permission to have people punished under copyright or intellectual property laws.
Facebook’s comment on the matter is, “We provide data to our advertising partners or customers after we have removed your name or any other personally identifying information from it, or have combined it with other people’s data in a way that is no longer associated with you.”
Source: nydailynews.com, facebook.com