Facebook Tricks Users into Irrevocable Contract

The following article on consumerist.com alerted me to the following situation that I find slightly disturbing:

Facebook's New Terms Of Service: "We Can Do Anything We Want With Your Content. Forever."

If you're taking the time to read this, then you should take the time to read the above article because I won't be summarizing it here.

After doing some sleuthing myself and finding that what they are claiming is indeed true (refer to the Terms of Service (TOS) dated before 4 Feb 2009 and the TOS edited 4 Feb 2009), I found the following paragraph in the current TOS interesting. As listed under the "User Disputes; Complaints" section:

"If you believe that the Facebook Service or Facebook's business practices are in any way unfair, fraudulent or unlawful, you agree to bring it to the attention of Facebook's legal department. If you do not report the issue or continue using the service after discovering the issue, you expressly waive the right to claim that the Facebook Service is unfair, fraudulent or unlawful with respect to that issue."

So I did. It took me awhile to find the Facebook legal department contact information, but here it is:

Facebook Legal Department
legal@facebook.com
Phone: 650-543-4801

I sent the following e-mail this morning:

Facebook Legal Department,

As referenced in your Terms of Service (TOS) revised 4 February 2009:

"If you believe that the Facebook Service or Facebook's business practices are in any way unfair, fraudulent or unlawful, you agree to bring it to the attention of Facebook's legal department. If you do not report the issue or continue using the service after discovering the issue, you expressly waive the right to claim that the Facebook Service is unfair, fraudulent or unlawful with respect to that issue."

I hereby am notifying you of my complaint regarding the following clause removed from the terms of service made effective on 4 February 2009:

"You may remove your User Content from the Site at any time. If you choose to remove your User Content, the license granted above will automatically expire, however you acknowledge that the Company may retain archived copies of your User Content."

It is my opinion that the TOS are no longer acceptable and that it is my responsibility (see above) to notify you that I consider these business practices unfair. Namely, I resent that you claim rights to content that I have uploaded to your site indefinitely regardless of my status as a subscriber of your services. I respectfully demand that you alter your TOS to restore what I consider my right to restrict your indefinite use of my content.

Nicholas G Herrick
[my contact information]

I fully realize that my e-mail will have no effect on their legal practices, but is it my hope that perhaps others will complain and that the deluge of negative feedback will bring about a change of heart. After all, we're not dealing with Microsoft or George Bush here, it's Facebook! We like Facebook.