Despite the recent resurgence of that silly Facebook copyright status hoax that is making it’s rounds again, and the many articles I’ve read on the subject, I haven’t heard anyone comment on the points I am about to drop on you. Oh, I am sure many have thought about these points, but despite my better judgement I’m going to be the guy that says them.
Close transcript: I think, hope, it’s been made sufficiently clear that posting this proclamation of copyright on Facebook affords you no protection, so I’ll bypass that point and get to the part that should really get you thinking.
How exactly did you, the average everyday Facebook user that had posted the hoax copyright status, think you were going to catch Facebook using data you’ve claimed they cannot? What preparations had you made to monitor for obvious noncompliance, let alone that which is anonymized or obfuscated? Facebook utilizes various data points in a myriad of ways. Some of them are obvious, like stating that you Like a page as a way to encourage friends to do the same. Others are less obvious, and to be frank, unlikely to ever be apparent or fully disclosed to you.
Let’s pretend for a moment that you could monitor and catch Facebook. Now what? What legal action were you going to take against Facebook? I mean, really, what do you think you were going to do about it? My guess, you had not even thought about it.
For that matter what led you to believe that Facebook was monitoring for appearances of this proclamation and how were they even made aware of it in the first place? This was randomly created by someone outside of their system. Why would they be scanning for this? And at what point do you think they decided to build a means of filtering you out of every data collection, redistribution, sharing, and usage system they have … because some random person started this viral hoax?
I know, I know, we’re all tired of discussing this, on both sides, and really I don’t think it necessary to call those who posted this status names. We all make mistakes. I certainly cannot say that I have never fallen for a hoax, and I doubt those calling these people stupid can either. That said, we all need to do our part to ensure we aren’t passing things on without some due diligence and fact checking, and certainly not just because someone says “it’s better to be safe than sorry.”
What is RAW Mullett? Stay tuned for more info on that.