In today’s world of multiple social media platforms and just too much to do, you may not remember the June 2012 and November 2012 Facebook copyright panics. In case you missed them, here’s how they went: Status updates surfaced from users who unnecessarily “formally declared” their posted material as off limits to Facebook. The hype threw photographers and artists on the social media platform into a frenzy, and those not employed by their intellectual property still worried about the protections over their personal pictures and videos.

This week, another wave of frantic Facebook users fell for the same hoax and hurried to their computers to copy and paste declarations against potential infringement. Among the most recent status updates was the following:

Due to the fact that Facebook has chosen to involve software that will allow the theft of my personal information, I do declare the following: on this day, November 29, 2014, in response to the new Facebook guidelines and under articles L.111, 112 and 113 of the code of intellectual property, We declare that our rights are attached to all our personal data, drawings, paintings, photos, texts, etc. published on our profile.

For commercial use of the foregoing my written consent is required at all times.

The problem lies in the fact that this simply doesn’t work. It’s useless. It’s a waste of time (and finger dexterity). According to Facebook’s Terms of Service, the minute you upload content to the site you grant the company “license to use and display” that content. But it’s irreversible, despite a status update.

The recent flare up in concern stems from Facebook’s plan to largely update its privacy controls over the coming weeks. The plan, scheduled to take effect January 1, 2015, is titled “Privacy Basics” and attempts to make clearer who can see what on your profile. To explain, Facebook is sending this email out to all of its users:

We wanted to let you know we’re updating our terms and policies on January 1, 2015 and introducing Privacy Basics. You can check out the details below or on Facebook.

Over the past year, we’ve introduced new features and controls to help you get more out of Facebook, and listened to people who have asked us to better explain how we get and use information.

Now, with Privacy Basics, you’ll get tips and a how-to guide for taking charge of your experience on Facebook. We’re also updating our terms, data policy and cookies policy to reflect new features we’ve been working on and to make them easy to understand. And we’re continuing to improve ads based on the apps and sites you use off Facebook and expanding your control over the ads you see.

We hope these updates improve your experience. Protecting people’s information and providing meaningful privacy controls are at the core of everything we do, and we believe today’s announcement is an important step.

Sincerely,

Erin Egan Global Chief Privacy Officer

So, to debunk the current myth…

Here’s the Facebook IP Breakdown

“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.”

Here’s the Translation

You essentially license to Facebook any photo or video that you upload the minute you upload it. Facebook can use it and owe you nothing. In fact, you agreed to that the minute you set up your account, according to the Statement of Rights and Responsibilities. You still own the copyright but it’s not exclusive. Facebook doesn’t need your written consent to use the content.

The only way to avoid this is to delete whatever you uploaded, assuming nobody shared it. When you upload something with no privacy settings (visible to the Public via Facebook settings), everyone–even people without a Facebook account–can access it, use it, and link it back to you.

My apologies if that’s not what you wanted to hear, but a stern letter to Facebook via your status update will do nothing. It’s like those chain letters that threaten you to repost or die in three days—a garbage byproduct of the Internet. Lesson of the day: Be careful what you post or don’t maintain a Facebook Account.

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The state of sex education in the United States is put simply, a complicated mess. It’s one of the subjects in which our essential decentralization of public education from state to state is most apparent. Some states teach comprehensive sex education, others teach abstinence only. And that’s just the public schools. Private schools can pretty much teach whatever they want. All of this means that we are sending young people into the world with wildly different expectations, understandings, and questions about sexual and reproductive health. Luckily, some students in the Clark County School District in Nevada are now standing up for themselves and demanding real sex education.

This spring, the Huffington Post put together a number of truly terrifying maps to show the disparity of sex education across the country; this is the one I found the most disturbing:

That’s right, all those states in red don’t necessarily have to provide medically accurate information about sex to their students. Some of the greatest misinformed hits from sex ed classes around the country, courtesy of a Congressional report, include:

• HIV, the virus that causes AIDS, can be spread via sweat and tears.
• Condoms fail to prevent HIV transmission as often as 31 percent of the time in heterosexual intercourse.
• Women who have an abortion are more prone to suicide.
• Ten percent of women who have an abortion become sterile.

These “facts” are not only patently false, but go straight to spreading fear and misinformation. There’s really no regulation to insist that that students get appropriate or accurate information when it comes to sex, which has led to terrifying gaps in knowledge among young people.

For example, a 2009 study shows that nearly half of sexually active young people do not use protection regularly. Laura Lindberg, of the Guttmacher Institute, a research institution, explains that this statistic probably stems from abstinence only programs that emphasize the problems with contraception in an attempt to stop young people from having sex altogether. Lindberg says:

Abstinence-only curriculums have gone explicitly out of their way to teach misconceptions about contraception. This generation of 20-somethings have missed many opportunities to get medically accurate and correct information

Because many states aren’t required to provide that accurate information, myths are rampant, and people actually make more unsafe choices.

Contrast that with how students fare in states that teach comprehensive sex education, including the real facts about contraception. The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) recently released a report detailing how the teen pregnancy rate is much lower in those states.

Even with all of that information, the sex education we provide to students continues to be extremely contentious. But now, some students are starting to take matters into their own hands. Or rather, their own voices. Students in Clark County School District in Las Vegas are protesting for a comprehensive sex education curriculum. They are pushing for real, accurate information on topics including sexual assault, masturbation, and other topics that both parents and school districts have deemed inappropriate. But junior Caitlyn Caruso, one of the leaders of the protest, pointed out the clear need for such discussions in the classroom. A victim of sexual assault, she relayed her experience with sex education in school:

I didn’t have words to name what had happened to me in the past and the experiences I had with sexual assault… I wasn’t provided with that terminology in my sexual health education classes here in Nevada. It took me years before I could access that information and could name what happened to me.

She continued:

When I walked into my first sex education class, I was confronted by the immediate message ‘Don’t have sex until you get married’ and ‘If you have sex before get married, you’re not pure anymore,’ I felt ostracized and alienated and impure. I felt dirty, and like I didn’t belong there, and like I didn’t really belong anywhere.

I understand the argument that we need to protect our young people from information that is too mature for them. But it’s unrealistic in this day and age, when sex is all over the media, to expect that teens are completely in the dark. It’s better to provide accurate information than none at all, or worse, inaccurate information. I applaud the Las Vegas students who are taking a stand.

Anneliese Mahoney

Anneliese Mahoney is Managing Editor at Law Street and a Connecticut transplant to Washington D.C. She has a Bachelor’s degree in International Affairs from the George Washington University, and a passion for law, politics, and social issues. Contact Anneliese at amahoney@LawStreetMedia.com.

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