American Society of Media Photographers warns about new Facebook T&Cs

Another day, another controversial change to Facebook’s terms of service – this time, Facebook is planning to update its (very) smallprint in a way that some commentators worry greatly increase the company’s power to exploit users’ content and identities.

The American Association of Media Photographers has warned its members to ‘beware’ Facebook’s proposed new terms of service, which – it claims – would allow the social media giant to ‘exploit your name, likeness, content, images, private information, and personal brand by using it in advertising and in commercial and sponsored content – without any compensation to you’.

In a blog post structured as a question and answer format, the A.S.M.P. dissects Facebook’s new proposed terms of service, explaining what the company has changed, what it might mean for photographers, and what concerned individuals can do to combat the changes.

Facebook’s proposed terms of service are available to view online here.

The depressing answer is that if the changes are made official, there’s nothing users can do directly, since according to the A.S.M.P. ‘Facebook has specifically removed the language from their TOS that allows you to limit how your likeness, information, and content are associated with brands, commercial uses, or sponsored posts. They have also removed the clause that makes them subject to the privacy limits set in place by you on your profile.’

The A.S.M.P. suggests that members ‘become informed’, ‘spread the word’, and ‘call for action’ from other professional organizations with whom they work to ‘ensure fair and respectful treatment of users by online services like Facebook and Instagram.’

Have you read Facebook’s new proposed terms of service? Do you care? Did you even know about the changes being proposed? Let us know in the comments.

Comments

This is just part of the larger trend to grab all rights to your digital media for free. Just look at the terms of the average “photo contest” now. They usually own your work and may re-assign it for profit just for you sending a submission.

If Facecrook isn’t working for you then get off of it. It never has been a photo oriented site.

Yet another reason for me to resist the Facebook come-on.
I shall just have to remain oblivious to so much that is going on
in my friends circles, such as, ironing done, now eating breakfast etc.
Come on don’t people have more to do with their lives, like typing
messages as to why they don’t do Facebook. 🙂
Yep Facebook, not interested, hope I never will be.

You answered your own question Oly. Of course these lightweights have nothing more to do. That IS their life!

I’ve voted with my feet and closed my facebook account. I know it won’t make any difference to facebook, but I’m not bothered by that. I feel better for it, and that is all that counts.

Over a billion users and I don’t think they will all just leave. The sheer amount of numbers will have an affect on you wether you want it to or not. You will be giving up more and more of your privacy.

Personally I am not FB’s biggest fan but it has it’s plusses. One the plus side, it has kept the twenty year old jokes that people think are new, along with cutesy pics out of my inbox due to mass mailings between friends. FB has become a necessary evil as again, others have mentioned, few check email any longer and I get virtually instant replies from FB. People have become addicted to it and it’s on their tablets and phones beeping at them at all times. From the point of view of business, you have to go where your customers reside, even if it’s on FB. Personally, I’m not the biggest fan but it does help me keep in touch because my friends and family are all there, business wise I have to do it. Finally, one of the reasons I’m not happy with FB is the continual changes in privacy policy which is what this article is about. I’m not sure what to do now with my FB page. I have to leave it there and FB knows it. They have hold of me and know it.

Facebook is an app made for women who are social creatures so I don’t see why you would load photos on there that you don’t want to share . I have yet to hear any of my male relatives say to me ” did you see the photos I posted on Facebook ” . On my Flickr, youtube and Vimeo pages I set my photos and videos to private or unlisted it I don’t want them to be public.

I had a heck of a time getting off of FACEBOOK. And I’m embarressed that I was ever there. I have discovered that people that don’t like me or how I think, don’t like me, or how I think, in snail mail, or email or any OTHER form of on line social networking. Going on line and hoping to find love and kindness is the greatest form of DELUSION. I have suspected, all of my life, that I wasn’t what very many people would like. and now in my OLD-AGE, I’m gettin jiggy with it…Leave F.B. if it’s lewd and distasteful to you. RJM

Social media is destroying itself. All you see are friendship tests, invites to play boring games, and insulting messages that say that if you don’t “Like” a picture of a dancing cat then you hate God, babies, and America.

Yes. This made me laugh.

Worse than that, why isn’t there a thumbs down?

The only photo I’v uploaded to facebook is the same avatar im using here !

how about an analysis of Google’s and G+ terms. They were caught reading private emails from user accounts, so how about an easy to understand terms of service for them?

Thanks…

How about staying on topic? Thanks…

Delete your Facebook account. Simple.

That seems simple, but it isn’t. If I mail someone, I hardly get any answer nowadays. If I make contact with that same person on FB I got an answer in minutes most of the time. Both private and business related.

I tried to avoid FB as much as I could, but I need it for my business as a photographer. As much I dislike it FB has to much control and they know it…

what do you suggest instead as my family live on the other side of the world.

Fredy, Email, snailmail and the telephone work great. Somehow we got by with the second two for decades.

I think it’s time Facebook should be given the St. Loius Toodle-oo.

already did…

My family is also far away but we communicate since decades with email and links to my dedicated photo site (no “social” stuff there 😀 ). Sometime we do some skype chat with or without video.
Where is the added value of sly networks like FB, G+ and similar?

Deleted already.

From a business point of view, I have little choice. I started a FB page years ago at the request of a past bride. She wanted to show others my business services but could not find me on FB. Naturally I advertise well and do have a website. For many, that’s the “old” way of doing things and they live their lives on FB. If it’s not on FB, it doesn’t exist for some people. You have to have a presence in the forum in which your customers reside. FB doesn’t need to be shut down, maybe just reigned in. We’ll have to wait and see if there’s an uproar and if they respond positively to it.

Sounds like we need to brand every image we put on Facebook. Make the watermark or logo enough that they will not want to use it for other purposes. Outside of that don’t use it or don’t publish anything that is important.

Facebook suicide isn’t that simple. They hound you afterwards. I’ve been there and still rely on it to find things out. But I stopped posting good photos long ago. From the start I plastered my copyright on everything making it useless to them.