Hey Facebook!

 “Facebook is free and always will be.” That’s what Mark Zuckerberg said and it’s true… sort of. Most people think that Facebook makes its’ money selling advertising and to a certain extent that is true. But the real money they make comes from you. You provide Facebook with a tremendous amount of data; your name, date of birth, where you work, who your friends are, what you like, where you go, what you do and lots more. You also provide data on all of your friends and contacts. This data is compiled, aggregated, sorted and sold to anyone who wishes to use it for virtually whatever they choose to do with it. And it’s worth billions of dollars. Mark Zuckerberg is worth 35.7 billion dollars as of 2015. And you helped him amass that fortune with every little tidbit of information you provided to your Facebook profile. So where is your check for your share of that huge profit? Oh, wait… you agreed to give it away for free. Quite generous of you. All because you agreed to Facebook’s Terms of Service, which, of course, is required if you wish to use Facebook.Here’s a piece of what you agreed to: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.Be careful what you upload to your Facebook profile… it’s no longer yours. You are now working for Facebook. For free. They may use anything and everything on your profile because you said they could. They may even proudly provide your photo alongside the product you clicked “Like” on. The advertisers they sell your data to can use your image in their product advertising so your friends can buy what you “Like”.  You gave your consent to sell everything you post to anyone who wants to buy it. No kiss from Mr. Zuckerberg and no check either.But let’s not just pick on Facebook. Google, Instagram, Pinterest and just about every website you sign up for does the same and sometimes worse.Facebook purchased Instagram for one billion dollars. At the time, Instagram had 13 employees. Why would Facebook be interested in, let alone, pay hugely for Instagram? Because Instagram collects a tremendous amount of data from its user base. And sells it. To anyone. And you agreed to it.Your turn Google. Why would an Internet search company create Android, an operating system for phones and tablets and then just give it away? Because they can now collect ungodly amounts of data from everyone who uses any device running the Android platform. Anyone using Gmail out there? Why not, it’s free! Don’t be concerned that every email message you send or receive, is collected, analyzed, collated and that data is sold to anyone one who wants to buy it. Don’t have a Gmail account? No problem. Google will happily collect your information as well whenever you send an email to someone with a Gmail address. I know, you didn’t agree to that. Maybe you can sue Google.Anyone out there using Google Docs? Why wouldn’t you? It’s free! Did you read the Terms of Service before clicking the “I agree” button. Bad idea. If you had you would have learned that everything you create with Google Docs now belongs to Google Docs. I really hope you didn’t create your patentable project on Google Docs. Or write your novel on Google Docs. They aren’t going to send you a check, either.By the way, if you are reading this post on LinkedIn where I originally published it…. yep, it now belongs to LinkedIn. It’s theirs to copy, modify, sell or use it any way they choose. Because I agreed to it when I agreed to their Terms of Service.I would love to hear your comments. And take a look at our website, AnswersNow.com. No, we don’t have a Terms of Service for you to sign. We do note that we will never sell, rent, give away or otherwise use your data. That way, I don’t have to send you a check.