Why I’ve stopped using Facebook

I know it’s been a while since I last wrote anything for this blog, but this week has seen several things happening that I feel strongly about and so I’ve managed to put finger to keyboard again.

Some of you may have noticed that I recently posted on twitter and facebook that I was unhappy with the new FB terms of use and so would not be updating my status there any more. I would now like to explain why I feel this way.

The new terms state:

You are solely responsible for the User Content that you Post on or through the Facebook Service. You hereby grant Facebook an irrevocable, perpetual, non-exclusive, transferable, fully paid, worldwide license (with the right to sublicense) to (a) use, copy, publish, stream, store, retain, publicly perform or display, transmit, scan, reformat, modify, edit, frame, translate, excerpt, adapt, create derivative works and distribute (through multiple tiers), any User Content you (i) Post on or in connection with the Facebook Service or the promotion thereof subject only to your privacy settings or (ii) enable a user to Post, including by offering a Share Link on your website and (b) to use your name, likeness and image for any purpose, including commercial or advertising, each of (a) and (b) on or in connection with the Facebook Service or the promotion thereof. You represent and warrant that you have all rights and permissions to grant the foregoing licenses

Now the way I read this is that I give FB permission to use anything I put on the site for any purpose they wish; that I cannot revoke this right even if I delete the content or close my account; and that they can pass this on to anyone they wish to do likewise.

Now compare that to the previous terms:

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 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. 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.

Notice the difference? Under the old terms, any content I delete from my account is automatically removed from the terms of the licence. The fact that they may keep archived copies is just a quirk of the internet.

In a blog post Mark Zuckerberg write this as a response to this situation:

One of the questions about our new terms of use is whether Facebook can use this information forever. When a person shares something like a message with a friend, two copies of that information are created—one in the person’s sent messages box and the other in their friend’s inbox. Even if the person deactivates their account, their friend still has a copy of that message. We think this is the right way for Facebook to work, and it is consistent with how other services like email work. One of the reasons we updated our terms was to make this more clear.

Well Mr Zuckerberg, you obviously haven’t quite grasped the difference between an email and content posted on your site. When I send an email, yes two copies are made, one in my machine, and the second on the recipient’s machine; this means that I have no control over the second copy. However, when I post to the facebook site, there is only one copy – on the facebook server. People viewing it do not download a copy, they vew the item on the server. Therefore if it’s deleted from the server, it’s gone. Forever. [ok I now that in reality mutliple copies may exist for the purpose of backups and that web-browsers actually download copies of the content, but I’m trying to keep it simple!]

Now consider what would happen a few years into the future when facebook has sold out to Megacorp Inc and I have become famous (I can dream!). Even if I have closed my account, and deleted all of my content; under these terms they would be able to use any thing which I had previously put on the site as they wished, even to advertise their products – without needing to ask my permission.

The changes to the terms of use were brought in by stealth. They fundamentally alter the relationship between facebook and it’s users; and they were brought in without notification. Changes such as this should have been notified to every user before hand so that users could remove content before giving away their rights.

Update [19/2/09]:

Well it looks like My Zuckerberg and the Facebook team have decided to listen to their users, at least temporarily. The original Terms have been re-instated whilst they look at write new ones. So I have now gone back to Facebook and deleted all the photos and other content that I have wish to keep some control over. I am happy to continue using the service as I do like the ability to connect with friends, I was just unhappy about the way they went about changing their terms of service

Brighton Council & parking

In the post this morning was a nice letter from the Adult Social Care & Housing department of Brighton & Hove City Council. And I assume it has been sent to all the residents in my block of flats

It states:

“It has been noted on a recent estate inspection that some residents are parking cars on the verges, namely a Honda accord XXXXXXX and a Peugeot 207 XXXXXXX

“Residents are reminded that it is illegal to park on these verges, and if cars are witnessed parked on the verges again they WILL be removed and if the owners are identified we regret that Cathey XXXX your Housing Officer will have to take appropriate tenancy action”

Firstly I glad to say that neither of the cars listed are mine.

Secondly I’m not sure quite what “tenancy action” can be taken against me as I’m a leaseholder.

I have however replied stating that I hope that Council drivers will also be dealt with

 

Now as far as I can tell, there is no law prohibiting parking on grass verges, but there could be a byelaw. I have lived here for over  years and there has never been any signs saying that the is a byelaw prohibiting parking on the verge. I have also searched the Council’s own website and there is no mention of parking on grass verges.

I shall await their reply

The three for three meme

A few weeks back I was tagged by Danie as revenge for my tagging her in a previous meme. And now I’ve got round to doing my meme.

 

1. Top 3 non-work websites:

Facebook: I use this to keep up with what all my friends are up to. Even if I don’t use all the apps and play the stupid games on it, it is handy to keep tabs on others.

Flickr: I post mt photos here and like to browse what others (friends and random peeps) have uploaded

Ancestry: As one of my hobbies is tracing my family tree, I spend a lot of time on here searching census returns

2. Three favourite cocktails:

I’m going to have to draw a blank on this one as I don’t do cocktails – sorry

3. Top 3 karaoke songs:

I’d have to be *really* drunk to do karaoke, but the ones I’d sing along to are:

1. Bohemian Rhapsody – Queen

2. Money for Nothing – Dire Straits

3. Summer of ‘69 – Bryan Adams

 

And now to tag three more people: Hedgewytch, Lisa and Devygyrl

Email tracking

In March an new EU directive comes in to effect here in the UK. It will mean that Internet Service Providers (ISPs) will have to keep a record of emails sent and received through their mail servers. This will apparently allow the police and other security agencies to track communications by criminals and terrorists. In theory anyway. There are a few flaws in this idea though:

There is some doubt as to whether it affects all ISPs or just the larger ones.

It only requires ISPs to track emails, not private individuals or companies running their own mail servers.

It only requires logging of the sender and recipient, it does record the content of the email.

So to circumvent this legislation, it is only necessary for both parties to either run their own mail server or use a small ISP. It wouldn’t take a terrorist long to work that out would it?

And as the content is not stored, all the authorities will know will be that Bob emailed Fred, but they will have no idea about what was said. Bob could just be asking what the weather was like!

And the information that is recorded will be made available to any public body. This could be the Police, Government Agency or your local council. It’s one thing to allow the Police to have access to this information (and that’s bad enough) but why do the local council need it? Or the local Health Authority?

Whilst I accept that the Police may need to keep track of what criminals and terrorists are doing in order to prevent crime, this is just using a sledge hammer to crack a nut. Instead of directing resources at specific targets, a system will be put in place that affects everyone and can easily be thwarted by those it’s supposed to be aimed at.

Monday Meme

I hope/plan to do a meme every Monday in an attempt to get in to the habit of writing regularly. So here goes with a meme I’ve pinched from Devyl Girl.

 

1. What is your occupation right now:

I work for Royal Mail as a postman delivering mail in the Ditchling area of East Sussex. I’ve been on the same round for the past four years and I was covering it for holidays and sickness for the previous four. I cover part of the village, the outlying farms and an industrial estate – real mix. And once I get out on delivery I love the job.

2. What colour are your socks right now?

Black

3. What are you listening to right now?

“Once upon a time in the west” by Dire Straights – the live version on the Alchemy album

4. What was the last thing you ate?

Trifle. So small it was hardly worth bothering, but as my parents were feeding me I wasn’t going to complain

5. Can you drive a manual (stick-shift)?

Yes

6. Last person you spoke to on the telephone?

My friend Lisa, discussing going to the theatre tomorrow night

7. How old are you today?

43

8. What is your favourite drink?

Non alcoholic: tea.

Alcoholic: Single malt scotch whisky

9. Have you ever dyed your hair?

No

10. What colour did you dye your hair?

See answer 9

11. Favourite food?

Spaghetti carbonarra

12.  What was the last movie you watched?

The Rocky Horror Picture Show

13. Favourite day of the year?

Can’t think of a favourite day, I have a few days which I don’t like, but no favourite ones.

New Year Thoughts

So a new year lies ahead of us. Will we make the most of it? Or just waste it? Hopefully I will make the most of it, but going from experience I’ll just jog along the same path as I have for the past few years – ie going nowhere in particular.

Looking back on the last year, the things that stand out are:

Finding twitter and making new friends

Starting this blog, and posting everyday for the whole month of November – hard work but fun

Appearing on the stage – I hated every minute of it, but I’m glad I did it.

Having a wonderful holiday with my daughter

And I have no regrets either. Something did happen that, with hindsight, I wish hadn’t – but I don’t regret it. And no, I won’t be giving any further details.

And so to this year…

In the past I have set resolutions which I have almost always failed to keep. This year I’m just going to set ambitions – things I would like to accomplish during the year.

So this year I would like to:

Read more (or at least finish the books I’ve already started!)

Read the Bible more

Blog more

Take more photo’s

Not appear on the stage again

Not have so many late nights

Not get quite so stressed over work

And finally I would just like to wish you a good New Year. Make the most of it, enjoy it and don’t let the little things get in the way of anything you want to do.

My alcoholic weakness

When it comes to alcohol, I have a weakness. Single malt Scotch whisky.

I don’t drink to excess (well not often), but I do like a wee dram every now and then. It helps calm the nerves after a stressful day.

My favourite? Probably Laphropaig. It’s an single malt from Islay. And it has a very pronounced smokey, peaty nose. Just opening the bottle allows enough aroma to escape to relax the mind.

However, I also drink other malt whiskies. And I have a small collection of them. At the moment my drinks cabinet contains the following:

Laphroaig 15yo

Glenmorangie Burgundy wood finish

Glengoyne 10yo

Macallen 18yo

Glenfidich

Glenfiddich Caoran Reserve 12yo

Glenfiddich Solera Reserve 15yo

Glenfiddich Toasted Oak Reserve 12yo

Glenfiddich 1991 Vintage Reserve

Highland Park 15yo

Aberlour 10yo

Bruichladdich 15yo

Isle of Jura 10yo

Cardhu 12yo

So if you ever want to by me a present or get in my good books – you know what to get me!

Website Failure #5

[for website failures ~3 & #4 see my post about the Boxing Day Fails]

Found on the Sainsbury’s website whilst hunting for (and failing to find) details about a 32in TV that was reduced

The Boxing Day Fails

Well I hope you enjoyed Christmas. I did (well I did if you allow for the fact that I was at my parents for most of the day, and my daughter and my mother were both in the same flat – not a good combination!)

So today is Boxing Day, and it’s the start of the after-Christmas sales in the major stores. And I have decided that this would be the perfect time to upgrade from my old st4eam-powered tube TV to something a bit more modern. I want a nice 32inch LCD TV. I want to be able to watch films in widescreen without the picture being either squashed or distorted.

Now, I hate (no, really hate) going shopping during the sales. So I decided that I would hunt out the bargains on the internet first. I could check the major stores to see what products they have, compare the specs and the prices and check availability as most do “reserve on line & collect from store”

So I fire up the firefox and load the pages for Comet, Currys, Tescos and Richer Sounds and start hunting for TVs

The first thing I noticed was how slow they all were. I mean r…e…a…l…l…y  s…l…o…w. When they did eventually load, I found the whole “shop on line” experience painful.

Tescos only allow you to search by brand name and/or price. You cannot select screen size. So I had to search through all the TVs in the price range £200-£400

Comets website died every time I tried to go to the “reserve & collect” page, and they have little pop-up information panels which only appear for about half a second before disappearing again.

Currys also failed every time I tried to check availability at a local store for “reserve & collect”

And the Richer Sounds site just keeps dying. And when it is up and accessible, it has an extremely busy and crowded page and I couldn’t find any way to narrow the search for what I wanted, just a search for LCD TV’s.

Shopping on the internet is not a new phenomenon any more, it has been with us for several years. All the stores promote the websites and have been really pushing them this year as the place to go to see the sales bargains. Obviously they had not geared themselves up for the increased demand though. And the sites themselves are just not user friendly. You should be able to search for a product using whatever criteria you wish. It should be possible to say “I want a 32inch TV in the price range £200-£300; show me what you have got”. If traditional brick&mortar companies want to keep our business in the age of the internet, they need to be proactive. The old way of selling products by laying out you stock and saying “this is it, have a look for what you want” does not work these days.  For a company to survive the recession it will need to change its attitude. Customers no longer have to physically walk from one store to another, they just have to type and click to get there.

And there were a couple of classic howlers as well:

Since when is paying an extra £200 “ a little bit extra”?

Why, when the spec says “front av sockets” do they list the ones on the back?

Overall, I cannot say I have enjoyed my online shopping experience. If I were new to the internet, I would probably be wondering what all the fuss is about.

I still haven’t found a TV I like because it is so hard to compare products from different retailers, let alone different manufacturers.

So I will probably end up either going down to the stores themselves, or not even bothering to buy a new TV.

Website failure #2

Thought I’d try out Amazon’s MP3 downloads, and this is what was displayed whilst the file was downloading!

So what delivery method would be faster than a download? Answers on a postcard please.