Mumbo Jumbo

Privacy on Facebook is all an illusion: Those "legal" disclaimers your friendspost mean nil

If you have spent any time on Facebook recently, you have probably seen one of your friends post the following statement:

In response to the new Facebook guidelines I hereby declare that my copyright is attached to all of my personal details, illustrations, comics, paintings, professional photos and videos and similar in line with the Berne Convention.

For commercial use of the above my written consent is needed at all times. (Anyone reading this can copy this text and paste it on their Facebook Wall. This will place them under protection of copyright laws.) By the present communiqué, I notify Facebook that it is strictly forbidden to disclose, copy, distribute, disseminate, or take any other action against me on the basis of this profile and/or its contents. The aforementioned prohibited actions also apply to employees, students, agents and/or any staff under Facebook's direction or control. The content of this profile is private and confidential information. The violation of my privacy is punished by law (UCC 1 1-308-308 1-103 and the Rome Statute).

Facebook is now an open capital entity. All members are recommended to publish a notice like this, or if you prefer, you may copy and paste this version. If you do not publish a statement at least once, you will be tacitly allowing the use of elements such as your photos as well as the information contained in your profile status updates.

At first glance, this language looks very official and binding, except for one little problem: It's a bunch of mumbo jumbo that would make even Perry Mason blush.

Let's break it down:

To begin with, posting anything on Facebook does not supersede the user agreement you agreed to (and probably never bothered to read) when you first signed up.
Citing the Berne Convention should be enough to make Facebook quiver in its tracks, except that the Berne Convention has nothing to do with the Internet. The World Intellectual Property Organization Copyright Treaty was developed in 1996 to deal with issues raised by information technology and the Internet that the Berne Convention does not cover.
The word "communiqué" simply means an official announcement about a usually very important piece of news and has no legal bearing or merit.
Referencing a law by its number certainly conveys importance, however the law cited in the post (UCC 1 1-308-308 1-013) concerns Commercial law — that's why it's called "Uniform Commercial Code" — and is meaningless in this context.
The Rome Statue summarizes who can investigate and prosecute core international crimes such as genocide, crimes against humanity, war crimes and the crime of aggression. Makes you wonder just what people are posting in their status update to warrant this type of protection.

Facebook has addressed all of this on its Facebook and Privacy page. (Although admittedly, it is difficult to believe a company whose stock value has lost what economists have essentially described as "a crap load of money.")

Still, one has to wonder what possesses people to copy and paste with such reckless abandonment. Maybe we have become a generation of lemmings jumping off the cliff, refusing 'til the end to believe that anything on the Internet could be untrue.

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Thanks, Queen Bey

Pop icon Beyoncé donates $100,000 to University of Houston Law School

Photo by Erza Shaw Getty Images

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Pop megastar Beyoncé Knowles-Carter has donated $100,000 to the University of Houston Law Center Criminal Justice Clinic through her BeyGOOD Foundation. The gift will allow the clinic to hire fill-time faculty to head it, benefiting the students who study there.

“I am delighted that the BeyGOOD Foundation has made this very generous gift to the UH Law Center,” said Leonard Baynes, dean of the UH Law Center. “Not only will this funding help establish a full-time criminal justice clinic that provides pro bono legal services in our community, but it will also supercharge our already excellent criminal law and justice programming.”

The clinic is one of nine at UHLC. It helps students learn to navigate the criminal justice system, especially on behalf of clients that are underserved by skilled attorneys. People of color are affected disproportionately by a lack of good, ethical representation.

Beyoncé, the most decorated artist in Grammy history and easily the biggest musical star native to Houston, has a long history of advocating for criminal justice reform. She was a staunch supporter of the police reform following the deaths of Alton Sterling and Philando Castile, asking law enforcement to “stop killing us” in a web post. In 2020, she penned an open letter to the Kentucky attorney general asking for justice in the death of Breonna Taylor.

Through her BeyGOOD Foundation, established in 2013, Beyoncé has focused mostly on expanding the prospects of Black-owned business and offering education opportunities to students. Forwarding the cause of legal representation in Texas while also helping out marginalized communities compliments her other philanthropic work.

“At UH Law, we envision a legal profession where ‘everyone has the opportunity to prosper,’ as BeyGOOD envisions, and we will achieve this vision by providing access to strong and effective legal representation in criminal proceedings,” Baynes said. “And together, through this gift, the BeyGOOD Foundation and UHLC will shepherd the next generation of criminal justice attorneys in the city of Houston, the state of Texas and the nation.”