Is this just another Facebook hoax?

[♥ Roy Mustang ist mein Führer ♥]

"Friday, Facebook will become owner of the publishing rights of ALL your private photos. You need to make a simple change: go to 'account', 'account settings', 'facebook Ads'(along the top), then go to 'ads shown by third parties', choose 'NO ONE' then SAVE. 2 minutes' job. & please Share share share."

Someone posted this message on my wall today. I know Facebook is notorious for changing things without telling users, but it seems a little weird to me. The setting this message tells you to change only involves Facebook plugins on third-party sites, and it's set to friends-only by default. I can't find anything about Facebook taking publishing rights for users' photos from them aside from the clause in the Terms of Service that gives them permission to display the content you upload on their site. Did I completely miss the news, or do my friends need to be smacked with a clue-by-four?

[Zero Chance]

Wow this is the first i heard of this. Probally a Hoax but i do want to be informed now. Google time

[Welcome People]

yes there is actually some truth to this althow it is a little hard to tell what you ment but let me try and sumerize this for you.

1. facebook will be letting 3d party people access your information but it will give you a choice to let them.

2. OK i looked it over link below this is something they were thinking of doing. but they will tell you and give you an option if they decide to implement it. so dont worry.

ten points or an send me an email if it helps.

http://www.facebook.com/help/?page=839

[Crystal Connor]

Probably a hoax. I don't think Facebook has the right to do that without your consent anyway.

[Frank]

Of course it is Don't worry.
Just like the "Facebook will start charging for people to use it.
People who have nothing better to do, just ignore them

[Stu]

You have already given Facebook the right to publish your private photographs because if you haven't the would not be able to display them. You still retain the Intellectual Property and copyright

Furthermore, if you go to Account > Account Settings > Facebook Adverts it explains that if you enable sharing, your friends will be able to see that you like something if the ad appears for them. It also mentions that Facebook may share photos with advertisers in the future but they have no plans on doing so at this stage.

Based on this it's probably a good idea to choose "no one", but not doing it isn't going to be detrimental to your privacy.

[Astraella Bombil]

Well, this is not only a hoax, this is actually a dangerous hoax. There have been a lot of false and hoax advertisements in Facebook that when you click on it, it will harm your computer badly.. This is actually what they called malvertising. So be very careful about that.

[triplehache2003]

this is at the top of the page on the link in the source

A Note About Your Personal Information
Despite what you may have heard, Facebook does not give your personal information to advertisers—including your name, profile picture or any of your photos.

[blissandbeyond]

While this is not a hoax, it is just another example of people going on the internet & agreeing to a ToS (terms of service agreement) without reading it. They end up being uninformed of what a site deems private & public information. This is exactly like the one that went around telling us Facebook was publishing our *gasp* phone numbers! Phone numbers have been posted since I joined- back when you had to be in college to get an account. People don't read the ToS & blindly sign up, agreeing to whatever they have to agree to to get started. This is not new- but its a way to scare people about how big, bad Facebook is 'invading' their privacy. My advice? If you want it private- don't put it on the web! Simple. Easy. & 100% effective! Good luck!

[crave knowledge]

A clue-by-four. LOL!

You own the rights to your pics. When you publish them via facebook, you give them rights to do so. Giving them that right doesn't give them ownership.
http://www.facebook.com/help/?faq=12008

You could still change it to no one, like the message says, but like you said, it's currently on friends only.