Don't I Own the Rights to My Face?

Who owns the rights to my face? I assumed it was me until I read an article that reminded me that when we create social media accounts, we pretty much agree to grant those platforms a free license to use our content as they wish.

In most cases, you hold the copyright to any content you upload to social media platforms. But when you created your account on Facebook, Twitter, Instagram, Tik Tok, or any platform you agreed to have a free license to use your content as they wish. How can they use it> It depends, but did you read the user agreement or just click "continue?"

How would you feel if you saw one of your tweets used in a Twitter ad campaign? Violated? Angry? Excited? Feel as you wish, but don't expect any cut of the ad's revenue.

Image: Clker-Free-Vector-Images from Pixabay

In the article, a person sees a sponsored Instagram Story ad with a video of a person putting on a lip balm. The person was her. She watched herself apply the balm and smile at the camera, looking pleased with the moisturized lips. But Abby never agreed to appear in a nationwide social campaign. How is this possible?

Usage rights dictate who owns an image or asset. It determines how and where it’s allowed to appear, and for how long.

The author had worked in media and knew that employees are often "pressured" to appear in campaigns but it is not a part of the full-time job and it is likely that it will go uncompensated. 

In this case, she had been told to participate in a photoshoot demonstrating the product’s healing benefits. She recorded for the work day, was not paid, and she believed the campaign was only going to run on the employer’s social media accounts for a few months. But this was more than a year later. Probably her former employer passed the content to the skincare company, though without her permission.

There's an old saying that if you're not paying for a product, then you are the product. Social media sites like Facebook and Instagram are completely free to use for the average consumer because advertisers pay for your attention (and sometimes your data). This is not a new model. In commercial TV broadcasting, you watch content for free because there are commercials. A more cynical explanation is that you pay for the privilege of having yourself sold. You are consumed. You are the product. They deliver you to the advertiser,. The advertiser is their customer.

Think about that the next time you read - or choose not to read - the terms and conditions and agree with a click.

This is a cross-posting from Serendipty35.

What a Photo Posted Online Can Say About You

You're probably tired of stories about privacy, Facebook and social media. But in the midst of all that the past few months, I continue to see lots of my online friends taking quizzes, liking posts and especially uploading photos.

Oh, what's the harm in posting a photo?

Your camera or phone adds a lot of data to a photo file. Especially with your camera's phone (on Flickr and many photo sharing sites, the most popular "camera" is a phone) you are sharing your location, the date and time, the kind of device you used and its device ID and your mobile provider. It will also ping off any nearby Wi-Fi spots or cell towers, so your location is there even if you don't add that to the image post.

Add in facial recognition, which Facebook and Google use on your photos, and features will try to determine who is in that photo. If you tagged anyone or captioned the photo or added a new specific location, you are feeding the database. Thanks, users!

Think about how this data along with knowing who your friends are and their data and where you go with or without them and it builds a very robust picture of you and your world.

Can't this be controlled by us? To a degree, yes, but not totally. Your phone and some cameras will automatically record that data for every shot. You can turn off location services/geotagging in some instances, but I'm not even convinced that the data still isn't there anyway. And if you are automatically backing up your photos to iCloud or Google or somewhere in the cloud, I'm not positive that even your deleted photos are forever gone along with their metadata.

Am I overly paranoid? Can anyone be overly paranoid about privacy these days?

Please Rob Me

If you use Twitter you know that people post messages telling you where they are at the moment. Are those dangerous posts?

Location-aware applications are big. Your cell phone knows where you are - that means that someone who can access that information knows where you are - and where you're not, like at home.

Services like Foursquare allow you note where you are and claim the place as your own.

The crew at Forthehack created a site called PleaseRobMe.com which has gotten a lot of attention by pulling data from Twitter about people who are not at home.

Is it a warning about the lack of Internet privacy, a tool for thieves, or a reminder about how much private information people are now GIVING AWAY online?

The creators say that now they want to "offer this website to a professional foundation, agency or company that focuses on raising awareness, helping people understand and provide answers to online privacy related issues."

Forthehack describes itself as a "concept and idea factory" (Just for the HACK of it!). Of course, these are the folks who came up with an app last year that answered the question that so many of you have clamored to know: How big is your e-Penis?