25 random things about Facebook Terms of Service

Facebook Terms of Service in a Wordle

1. They can change it.  Whenever they want to.
2. TechCrunch says, "Zuckerberg is saying, "Trust us."  But it is difficult to trust a company that is stripping users of rights they've become accustomed to, even if hardly any of them ever actually asserted those rights in practice."
3. This section of the former  Facebook Terms of Service was removed; "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."
4. Replaced with this:  "The following sections will survive any termination of your use of the Facebook Service:  Prohibited Conduct, User Content, Your Privacy Practices, Gift Credits; Ownership:  Proprietary Rights, Licenses, Submissions; User Disputes:  Complaints, Indemnity, General Disclaimers, Limitation on Liability, Termination and Changes to the Facebook Service, Arbitration; Governing Law:  Venue, Jurisdiction, and Other."
5. Facebook admit they poorly communicated with users.  Zuckerberg says, "We still have work to do to communicate more clearly about these issues, and our terms are one example of this."
6. CNet News reports: "Unlike the Yahoo-owned Flickr, Facebook does not have extensive copyright preferences, meaning that a professional photographer might want to choose a media-sharing site where there's less of a gray area as to what can actually happen down the road."
7. Facebook has a mixed record on privacy issues.  Caroline McCarthy reported last year that Facebook "reportedly plans to send a warning letter to the New York-based digital-media entrepreneur [Nick Denton of Gawker] citing several terms-of-service violations--one more, and he's out."
8. The New Yorker's Sasha Frere-Jones tweeted yesterday:  "Have deleted my Facebook account, in solidarity with @drmabuse and @ericrosenfield, and in concert with what little common sense I have."
9. The date of last revision is February 4, 2009 .  Why all the commotion now?  The Consumerist.
10. Facebook's Terms of Service is 3722 words long.
11. It has 20 clauses, although not numbered.
12. Number of times "liability" appears:  8
13. Number of times "rights" appears:  0
14. The full terms of service can be viewed here.
15. The previous version of the Terms of Service can be found here.
16. Facebook users have been angry with the service before; 1.5 million users revolted against the new design.
17. Breastfeeding mothers and their supporters signed up 215,000 users to oppose Facebooks "not allowing people to post profile pictures of babies nursing."
18. The Facebook Group devoted to reverting the terms was started by a consultant in Norway.  It grew at a rate of 1000 members per hour and was mentioned on CNN, says founder Anne Kathrine Yojana Petterø.  This AM she also stated:  "Confirmed: #facebookTOS group got mentioned on the CNN 8 o'clock news in the States"
19. A lively discussion on the new Terms of Service is ongoing on Facebook here.  It should be noted Facebook started this chat themselves.
20. Facebook founder Zuckerman writes at the end of his post to users:  "I'll post some more thoughts on openness and these other issues soon."
21. Listen "live" to what folks on Twitter think by clicking here.
22. The "People Against the new Facebook terms of Service" are the leading crusaders against this move by Facebook; an interview with the founder can be found here.
23. Compare Facebook's terms with the terms from other social media sites; Amanda French has the details.
24. There are three "big questions" for Facebook according to Anne Kathrine Yojana Petterø.
25. My bottom line on the Terms of Service brouhaha? As always... be careful what you decide to share online.

Thanks to @buzzbishop for the inspiration.

UPDATE: As of 8:00 AM EST Facebook now features this message: