New Facebook Guidelines - Copyright Hoax

Over the last 24 hours posts relating to the new facebook guidelines have spread like wild fire... But are they true?

Over the last 24 hours posts relating to the new facebook guidelines have spread like wild fire... But are they true?

Img Src: thenextweb.com

The posts in question contain the following:

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!

Before re-posting anything like this, it's always worth doing a quick search using your favourite search engine to see if it is a hoax or not. As in most cases, the above post is just that - a hoax.

"We have noticed some statements that suggest otherwise and we wanted to take a moment to remind you of the facts -- when you post things like photos to Facebook, we do not own them," Facebook spokesman Andrew Noyes said in a statement. "Under our terms (https://www.facebook.com/legal/terms), you grant Facebook permission to use, distribute, and share the things you post, subject to the terms and applicable privacy settings."

Snopes.com is a website dedicated to clearing up fallacies on the Internet and is a great place to start if you are unsure about anything you are being told to repost. It reminds Facebook users of that same thing. "Facebook users cannot retroactively negate any of the privacy or copyright terms they agreed to when they signed up for their Facebook accounts nor can they unilaterally alter or contradict terms instituted by Facebook simply by posting a contrary legal notice on their Facebook walls."

Basically, don't bother copying and pasting this messgae, there is no such thing as the Berner Convention, it's not going to protect you and you'll just annoy your friends as their feed fills up with this rubbish.