Consumerist
-
surprise
Congress Seeks To Move Up Credit Card Act Implementation To December 1st
Today, Reps. Barney Frank and Carolyn Maloney are going to request that the implementation date for the rest of the Credit Card Act's rules be moved to December 1st of this year instead of February 2010, after seeing companies "jacking up their rates and doing other things to their customers in advance of the effective date" all summer, reports Mary Pilon at The Wall Street Journal. More » -
follow-ups
10 Extinct Twitter-Types Thanks To New Terms Of Service
Instead of cranking out cumbersome terms of service Magna Cartas that only lawyers will actually read, Twitter should follow the lead of Mashable and just come out and say what types of users it's attempting to get rid of. More » -
twitter
New Terms Of Service For Twitter
Twitter has just posted new terms of service clarifying a few points that have come up now that the service is popular and stuff. They've changed the terms to clarify a few points, such as advertising (they retain the right to advertise) ownership (you own your tweets) and rebroadcast (they can retweet you far and wide.) [Twitter Blog] -
marketing
Facebook Says No To Advertiser Sponsored Accounts
Thanks to an update to Facebook's Statement of Rights and Responsibilities, there will be one less place for advertisers to encroach onto your private life: your friends' news feeds. More » -
facebook
Pseudonymbook? Facebook Will Let You Use An Alias June 13
Facebook has prided itself on forcing users to stick hard and true to their real names, eliminating the zany, anonymous nonsense on other social networking sites. The real-name policy isn't changing, but Facebook is finally letting wacky nicknames into the mix, announcing that it will let you choose an alternate name for your profile page, letting friends who know you only as "Spanky" find you without having to recall your given moniker. The new name can also replace the nine-digit number assigned to you on your Facebook URL. More » -
tos
TOSBack Keeps Track Of Changes To Terms Of Service Policies Around The Web
It's difficult enough to parse a lengthy TOS for one web-based service, let alone for dozens, or to keep track of when and how they update them. It would be nice if some public-service website out there would keep track of this stuff for all of us, wouldn't it? Last week, the Electronic Frontier Foundation (EFF) did just that with the launch of TOSBAck.org, "the terms-of-service tracker." It tracks TOS agreements for 44 different services, including Facebook, YouTube, Amazon, Twitter, and eBay. More » -
chargebacks
ImLive.com: Disputing An Erroneous $450 Porn Charge Is A "Serious Violation Of Our Terms Of Use"
Someone hacked reader E's account on the adult site ImLive.com and bought up $450 worth of credits. By the time E. caught the charge, half of the credits had already been used. When E. informed the site that he was planning to file a chargeback with his credit card company, he was warned that doing so would be "considered a serious violation of our terms of use." The site's suggested alternative was simple: they would restore the used credits, and E. could watch lots and lots of porn. More » -
facebook
Facebook Voting Has Ended; New Terms Being Considered Despite Small Turnout
When voting ended yesterday on the Facebook terms of service, around 600,000 people had voted, and about 70% of those votes were cast for the new documents drafted over the past couple of months. Although the voting total was nowhere near the 30% of active Facebook users that Facebook said would be required, the site is still considering validating the vote and implementing the new terms after the audit is complete. More » -
-
user participation
You're Participating In The Facebook Terms Of Service Vote, Right?
You've got about a day and a half left to cast your vote for which Terms of Service you'd prefer Facebook go with—the one written in September 2008 without user input, or the new one they've drafted over the last month based on suggestions from the Facebook community. More » -
facebook
Facebook Will Let Users Help Draft New Terms Of Service
Facebook held a conference call today to announce that their next terms of service will be drafted with direct input from readers in the form of commentary, direct voting, and the creation of a "user council" to function as a sort of parliament. They've also introduced preliminary versions of two documents, Facebook Principles and a Statement of Rights and Responsibilities. TechCrunch paraphrases Zuckerberg on the call:
More »We are open to putting the documents up to a vote. The rules people must do when on the site and what we must do, a two way thing. There will be Comment periods, a council that will help on future revisions.
We do not own user data, they own their data. We never intended to give that impression and we feel bad that we did. This document is a foundation that we're going to use our decisions going forward.
-
facebook
What Facebook's Users Want In The Next Terms Of Service
Now that Facebook has said they're drafting a new Terms of Service based on community input, that community has eagerly put forth their proposals in the Facebook Bill of Rights and Responsibilities Facebook group. Forum admin Julius Harper went through the 27 pages of feedback and pulled out the three major areas the community seemed most concerned about. Here's what the people are demanding:
More »
-
facebook meltdown
Watch Consumerist's Own Ben Popken On The NBC Nightly News
Here's a little media whoring for ya. Consumerist's Ben Popken was interviewed on the NBC Nightly News this evening. We were hoping Brian Williams would say the word "Consumerist" so we could somehow capture it and make it our ringtone, but alas. Not to be.
-
breaking
Facebook Reverts Back To Old Terms Of Service
It appears in the wake of global attention and outcry, Facebook has, as of at least 12:27 am, reverted back to the previous Terms of Service. Phew, now we can all go back to sending each other digital cupcakes without Big Brother watching us. This is a temporary move until Facebook can draft a new Terms of Service that addresses the users' concerns. CEO Zuckerberg wrote a new blog post, and Facebook spokesperson Barry Schnitt released this statement:
More »
-
facebook
Facebook Privacy Fallout Goes Nuclear
Online, in print and on TV, Consumerist's Facebook terms of service change story, and the ensuing global uproar, has spread like Ebola in a monkey house... More » -
shrink ray
Shrink Ray Now Hitting Rewards Programs
We've seen food items, airline mile programs, and credit card limits all shrink as the economy worsens. Now it's time for other rewards programs to become just a little less rewarding—and somewhat sneakily, too, in these two stories recently sent in by readers.
More »
-
facebook
How Does Facebook's TOS Compare To Other Social Networking Sites?
If you've been following the Facebook story over the past couple of days, you know by now that Facebook has said that they are not claiming ownership of uploaded user content: "We certainly did not—and did not intend—to create any new right or interest for Facebook in users' data by issuing the new Terms." But blogger Amanda French decided to actually compare the fine print for several social networking sites—MySpace, Flickr, YouTube, LinkedIn, Twitter, and Picasa—and she concludes that "Facebook's claims to your content are extraordinarily grabby and arrogant." Read her side-by-side comparison here.
More »
-
responses
Facebook Clarifies Terms Of Service: "We Do Not Own Your Stuff Forever"
Well, yesterday's Facebook post certainly blew up today, and it looks like Facebook is currently preparing an official response. In the meantime, a Facebook rep has written to the Industry Standard to emphasize that all rights are subject to your privacy settings, so even if they don't expire when you close your account, they'll still be subject to whatever restrictions you had when the account was active. Facebook founder Mark Zuckerberg has also posted a more philosophical response on the Facebook blog saying that while the new Terms of Service are "overly formal," they're only meant to give Facebook the legal ability to enable content sharing among users. More » -
your rights
Facebook's New Terms Of Service: "We Can Do Anything We Want With Your Content. Forever."
This post has generated a lot of responses, including from Facebook. Check them out here.
Facebook's terms of service (TOS) used to say that when you closed an account on their network, any rights they claimed to the original content you uploaded would expire. Not anymore. More »
terms of service
New York, 5:44 PM
Tue Nov 10
24 posts in the last 24 hours
Tip Your Editors:
tips@consumerist.com
tipline: 347-42C-ON95
Co-Managing Editor:
Ben Popken
Email | AIM | Twitter
Co-Managing Editor:
Meghann Marco
Email | Twitter
Senior Editor:
Chris Walters
Email | Twitter
Weekend Editor:
Laura Northrup
Email | AIM | Twitter
Associate Editor:
Alex Chasick | Email
Associate Editor:
Phil Villarreal
Email
