The bogus story is making the rounds and having users post phony legal statements in their statuses.

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Ever fall for one of those posts telling you that bad luck will come if you don’t share it? You might also be duped by the most recent hoax that is going around Facebook.

According to Snopes.com, many Facebook users are copying and pasting a status that reads similar to this:

“Due to the fact that Facebook has chosen to involve software that will allow the theft of my personal information, I state: at this date of January 4, 2015, in response to the new guidelines of Facebook, pursuant to articles L.111, 112 and 113 of the code of intellectual property, I declare that my rights are attached to all my personal data drawings, paintings, photos, video, texts etc. published on my profile and my page. For commercial use of the foregoing my written consent is required at all times.

Those who read this text can do a copy/paste on their Facebook wall. This will allow them to place themselves under the protection of copyright. By this statement, I tell Facebook that it is strictly forbidden to disclose, copy, distribute, broadcast, or take any other action against me on the basis of this profile and or its content. The actions mentioned above also apply to employees, students, agents and or other personnel under the direction of Facebook.

The content of my profile contains private information. The violation of my privacy is punishable by law (UCC 1-308 1-308 1-103 and the Rome Statute).

Facebook is now an open capital entity. All members are invited to publish a notice of this kind, or if they prefer, you can copy and paste this version. If you have not published this statement at least once, you tacitly allow the use of elements such as your photos as well as the information contained in the profile update.”

However, according to Facebook’s Statement of Rights and Responsibilities, “You own all of the content and information you post on Facebook, and you can control how it is shared through your privacy and application settings.”

Although Facebook does not own any user generated content, in their Statement of Rights and Responsibilities they claim the right to distribute the content:

“For content that is covered by intellectual property rights, like photos and videos (IP content), you specifically give us the following permission, subject to your privacy and application settings: you grant us a non-exclusive, transferable, sub-licensable, royalty-free, worldwide license to use any IP content that you post on or in connection with Facebook (IP License). This IP License ends when you delete your IP content or your account unless your content has been shared with others, and they have not deleted it.”

Ultimately by copying and pasting the status, the user is stating that they do not believe the content they send out to the public can be used by the public.

You don’t have to be a lawyer to understand that online posts allow public access, especially when you agree to it when creating your Facebook account. Just listen to this guy from Collegehumor:

To read more about Facebook’s legal rights you can access their Statement of Rights and Responsibilities here: https://www.facebook.com/legal/terms

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