Week 6 Tutespark

Leading on from the lecture on online privacy & social networking....

1. Who owns the content you put on the internet on various sites? This includes pictures, video, text, etc? Think about all the content you upload onto social networking sites - Do you own it? Who has the right to use your creations?

This all depends on the site as stated, for instance: facebook has a privacy sharing policy, so one can choose who can see what you have put on fb and who can not. This applies to who owns it, as there is a license agreement - such as when you remove your content and profile - that license expires and fb does not own your previous content. However, this can be further discussed as many argue that is not the case.

"Mark Zuckerberg, the chief executive of Facebook, said in a blog post on Monday that the philosophy “that people own their information and control who they share it with has remained constant.” Despite the complaints, he did not indicate the language would be revised."

I believe when you put something on the internet, whatever it may be, you do not own it. Pictures from fb can be found under google images and blogs can easily be picked up from other places. Nothing is secure - which pretty much says what the internet is about. However, if you have a license, such as Creative Commons on your artwork or whatever else - then atleast you do own it if someone chooses to steal it, then you can sue them. Same goes for your fb pictures of course, but you never know if someone in for example Egypt has stolen your photo and made a profile using your picture on a fb-like site. This is why there are always warnings about sharing personal information on the internet, as it is never kept secure - unless of course it is online banking or other. All I know, is that on the internet you have to be cautious and safe. 

Resources; 

http://www.nytimes.com/2009/02/17/technology/internet/17facebook.html