VANCOUVER (NEWS1130) – You may have noticed your Facebook friends posting some legalese into their status updates thinking they are protecting their privacy.
    
But an Internet security expert who says nothing could be further from the truth!
    
The 213 word disclaimer you may have seen cut-and-pasted countless times does nothing at all, other than annoy the rest of us who have to scroll past it. They’re in response to the social network’s new privacy guidelines announced last week. It aims to protect the user’s intellectual property from commercial use, but much like inserting the word “allegedly” into news copy, it will not protect you.
    
“It depends on what the conditions are that you’re using the service,” says Richard Rosenberg, Professor Emeritus of Computer Science at the University of British Columbia. “So, if Facebook says up front that use of Facebook services implies you’re giving up your control over that information, ie. giving up copyright, then you have no further claim.”
    
He points out you give up your privacy rights the moment you sign up for the social network. “If you use their services and you provide them with information, pictures, or whatever — that information is under copyright by Facebook.”

“You no longer control it, which always seemed to me to be a problem…but hasn’t deterred many people,” he says.
    
Facebook maintains you still own and control whatever you post, but experts call the hoax a teachable moment when it comes to social media literacy.