Countless Facebook users are posting the following warning to their profiles and often encouraging their friends to do the same:
PRIVACY NOTICE: Warning – any person and/or institution and/or Agent and/or Agency of any governmental structure including but not limited to the United States Federal Government also using or monitoring/using this website or any of its associated websites, you do NOT have my permission to utilize any of my profile information nor any of the content contained herein including, but not limited to my photos, and/or the comments made about my photos or any other “picture” art posted on my profile.
You are hereby notified that you are strictly prohibited from disclosing, copying, distributing, disseminating, or taking any other action against me with regard to this profile and the contents herein. The foregoing prohibitions also apply to your employee , agent , student or any personnel under your direction or control.
The contents of this profile are private and legally privileged and confidential information, and the violation of my personal privacy is punishable by law. UCC 1-103 1-308 ALL RIGHTS RESERVED WITHOUT PREJUDICE
ALTERNATE MESSAGE:
“Just in case – A lawyer advised us to post this. Good enough for me. The violation of privacy can be punished by law. NOTE: Facebook is now a public entity. All members must post a note like this. If you do not publish a statement at least once, it will be tacitly understood that you are allowing the use of your photos, as well as the information contained in your profile status updates. I HEREBY STATE THAT I DO NOT GIVE MY PERMISSION For Face Book to use any of my information or posts.
Copy and re-post.
Deadline tomorrow !!! Everything you’ve ever posted becomes public from tomorrow. Even messages that have been deleted or the photos not allowed. It costs nothing for a simple copy and paste, better safe than sorry. Channel 13 News talked about the change in Facebook’s privacy policy. I do not give permission.
Copied and pasted..just in case.”
If only protecting your privacy on Facebook was this easy. The message does nothing to protect your data or to deter any government or institution from lawfully obtaining your information from Facebook.
The use of and release of your personal data is governed by Facebook’s Data Use Policy and other polices you agreed to when you signed up for your Facebook account. Simply posting a status update doesn’t supersede these documents.
As for the UCC code that is cited, Thatsnonsense.com explains that the “The UCC deals with commerical law in the United States, and nothing to do with privacy or social networking, meaning even if Facebook did not have its own terms of service, or even if posting the above message did somehow supercede Facebooks terms of service, it would still be meaningless because it has nothing to do with online privacy.”
The best thing you can do to protect your privacy on Facebook and the Internet in general is to take responsibility for yourself. Use the privacy controls and account settings built in to the platform and be sensible about what information you post online in the first place.
For more information on how to configure your account and privacy settings appropriately, see our guide:
How to Lockdown Your Facebook Account For Maximum Privacy and Security
This post was edited on 01-13-19.
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