Academic

Can Facebook use my high school prom picture?

By Gordon Smith, Christine, Hurt, Vic Fleischer, Fred Tung, Lisa Fairfax, David Zaring

So I'm feeling pretty cool.  3 weeks ago, when discussing unconscionability and Internet terms and conditions, I told my class go to the Facebook website (and heard one of the students tell her neighbor: "This is the best class ever!").  They discovered upon reading the site's terms and conditions 1)that Facebook claims a perpetual license on anything posted on a Facebook page, and 2) that Facebook can change the terms and conditions of its website at any time without notice.  The terms said that the license would automatically expire if you removed the content.

Apparently, Facebook recently changed these terms, removing the automatic expiration, and prompting much consternation amongst users, and a response from founder/CEO/annoyingly-rich Mark Zuckerberg.  Some legal analysis here.

Yup, cutting-edge contract law, that's what I teach. 

Um, no, I still don't have an iPod.   

Update: this NYT article quotes my friend, cyber-guru, and fellow Law Hoo Greg Lastowka.

Full post as published by Conglomerate on February 17, 2009 (boomark / email).