Mmmm . . . Facebook

I might be paranoid....

http://blogs.zdnet.com/web2explorer/?p=95&part=rss&tag=feed&subj=zdblog

http://www.albumoftheday.com/facebook

The part of Terms of Use referenced in the video...

"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. (emphasis mine) 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."

Heck, maybe Google does the same thing. Damn the Man. Now I have to go look.

Excerpt from Google's Terms of Use:

"Your Intellectual Property Rights. Google claims no ownership or control over any Content submitted, posted or displayed by you on or through Google services. (emphasis Google) You or a third party licensor, as appropriate, retain all patent, trademark and copyright to any Content you submit, post or display on or through Google services and you are responsible for protecting those rights, as appropriate. By submitting, posting or displaying Content on or through Google services which are intended to be available to the members of the public, you grant Google a worldwide, non-exclusive, royalty-free license to reproduce, publish and distribute such Content on Google services for the purpose of displaying and distributing Google services. " (emphasis mine)

Note that the usage is more limited than Facebook's. Still not the greatest. But better. Marginally.

Nothing's free. You pay one way or another.

But at least you can view Google pages without creating an account. You can view MySpace without creating an account. You can't look at Facebook AT ALL if you have no account. That was the first bit that triggered an uneasy feeling in my gut. I have to give them MY information to simply VIEW their webpage? I think not. I'm not THAT curious.