David Sturgill has posted his cell phone number, personal e-mail address and work information on his Facebook page and now wonders whether that was a good idea.
The 32-year-old, who lives in Fells Point, has been using the social networking Internet site for two years, but since he learned this week of the company's change in its terms of use, he worries about what Facebook could do with the information.
Facebook quietly changed the terms this month but users became aware of it - and some were outraged by it - when the popular Consumerist blog posted about it this week and got tens of thousands of hits.
The change allows Facebook to keep user content such as photos and phone numbers even if members delete their accounts. Under the old terms, the license expired when users left Facebook.
"I don't think it's right at all," said Sturgill. "That's all my personal information. If I wanted to end my agreement with them, it should be deleted."
Facebook will not own the information, contrary to Web rumors, but the change could still have broad implications, said Mark McCreary, an intellectual property attorney at the law firm Fox Rothschild LLP in Philadelphia. For example, a photographer who stops using Facebook still owns his photos, but he's given license to the site to use them after he goes on to become famous.
"Selling a photograph would appear to be outside of the permitted 'promotion' use in the terms of service," McCreary said. "Using the photo for an ad or promotion clearly appears to be permitted."
The change on Feb. 4 has spurred an uproar among Facebook users, leading to calls for boycotts and prompting the company's chief executive officer to post a notice that stated, "We wouldn't share your information in a way you wouldn't want." But that has not quelled criticism of the five-year-old site, which has more than 150 million users worldwide.
Ryan O'Connor, a Lutherville resident who works at Constellation Energy, said he grew concerned about the security of his information and removed his cell phone number and e-mail address earlier this month. After learning that Facebook still has the information archived, he said he considered deleting his profile altogether.
"It's kind of like Big Brother," said O'Connor, 30. "I feel like I'm violated a little bit. That's concerning. ... Why would they keep the information? What's the point? There has to be an objective there."
