Beware! What you post on Facebook. It doesn't belong to you anymore.

I don't use Facebook, hell I barely use MySapce. I just don't care enough about the whole "cyber social networking" thing enough. I don't have a brand or anything that I want to try to sell or promote. Even this blog is purely for me, and I don't make any money in any shape or fashion, hence why there's no advertisements. I do, however, have a few works of mine in my MySpace picture gallery and news of Facebook's updated ToS (Terms of Use) makes me wonder if perhaps I should consider removing that content.

Facebook's terms of service (TOS) used to say that when you closed an account on their network, any rights they claimed to the original content you uploaded would expire. Not anymore.

Now, anything you upload to Facebook can be used by Facebook in any way they deem fit, forever, no matter what you do later. Want to close your account? Good for you, but Facebook still has the right to do whatever it wants with your old content. They can even sublicense it if they want.

You hereby grant Facebook an irrevocable, perpetual, non-exclusive, transferable, fully paid, worldwide license (with the right to sublicense) to (a) use, copy, publish, stream, store, retain, publicly perform or display, transmit, scan, reformat, modify, edit, frame, translate, excerpt, adapt, create derivative works and distribute (through multiple tiers), any User Content you (i) Post on or in connection with the Facebook Service or the promotion thereof subject only to your privacy settings or (ii) enable a user to Post, including by offering a Share Link on your website and (b) to use your name, likeness and image for any purpose, including commercial or advertising, each of (a) and (b) on or in connection with the Facebook Service or the promotion thereof.

That language is the same as in the old TOS, but there was an important couple of lines at the end of that section that have been removed:

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.

Furthermore, the "Termination" section near the end of the TOs states:

The following sections will survive any termination of your use of the Facebook Service: Prohibited Conduct, User Content, Your Privacy Practices, Gift Credits, Ownership; Proprietary Rights, Licenses, Submissions, User Disputes; Complaints, Indemnity, General Disclaimers, Limitation on Liability, Termination and Changes to the Facebook Service, Arbitration, Governing Law; Venue and Jurisdiction and Other.

Make sure you never upload anything you don't feel comfortable giving away forever, because it's Facebook's now.

Oh, you also
agree to arbitration, naturally. Have fun with that.
- Source

What does this mean? Let's say I upload some really snazzy graphics that I've done that are completely my own IP. Facebook can take those images and use them in an advertisement. Or they can use them in a layout scheme, or they can use it for... well, anything really. And do I get any payment or even acknowledgment for my works being used? No. No, I don't. To take it further, let's say you're a band. You have some tunes on Facebook to promote yourself. Facebook can use your music in a commercial and is not required to give you anything.

Facebook's ToS has, apparently, always been like this. However, the kicker is, the new ToS makes it so that even if you delete your content, FAcebook owns it. And they own it forever.