After a backlash prompted Facebook.com executives to do a virtual 180, they are now looking for feedback about the site's Terms of Use.
In a move that underscored the tension between privacy and the emergence of online communities, Facebook unveiled early last month new terms that would give the site the rights of all of its users' content even after they deactivate their accounts.
But after tens of thousands of people voiced concern over the abrupt switch, Facebook reverted to its old terms, which limit the site's control over information to the life of a user's account.
In an apologetic press release, Facebook founder and CEO Mark Zuckerberg addressed users' concerns.
"As people share more information on services like Facebook, a new relationship is created between Internet companies and the people they serve," Zuckerberg said. "The past week reminded us that users feel a real sense of ownership over Facebook itself, not just the information they share."
To that end, Facebook has set up two virtual town hall meetings, which are open to all users and will last until March 29. The venues for the meetings are the Facebook groups "Facebook Town Hall: Proposed Statement of Rights & Responsibilities" and "Facebook Town Hall: Proposed Facebook Principles."
The "Proposed Statement of Rights & Responsibilities" is intended to replace Facebook's current terms and looks to find a compromise that would keep the site's executives and users happy.
In a concession to users, Facebook will let them vote on changes if more than 7,000 people comment on the proposal. The site's leaders have agreed to make the vote binding if over 30 percent of active users cast a virtual ballot.
On the Hill, the Facebook debate has exposed student concerns about how much of their content they own outright.
"Whether [Facebook] has a right to that information after you yourself withdraw from being a member is really an interesting question about intellectual property," said Julie Dobrow, director of the communications and media studies program. "It's exactly the kind of thing that's going to become very important in how we conduct our personal and public business."
Even so, for some, privacy concerns are tangential at best to their overall perception of Facebook.
"I don't think of [content issues] very much when I'm using Facebook," freshman Taylor Bates said. "I don't think very much about [how] they might own this stuff — they might own pictures of me in perpetuity. I think it is a bit Orwellian, but that's the price people are willing to pay to use this really popular social networking tool."
Freshman Joel Greenberg agreed. "From a technological standpoint … it's their work; they're providing this as a free service," he said. "We have the choice of abiding by whatever rules they set for us or to not use Facebook, and that might be inconvenient, but those are really the only two choices we have."
