30/09/2024
Please Don't!
To those sharing important posts, I realise you seek only to protect those around you.
Sadly, Facebook/Meta wrote the Terms and Conditions before we all joined and reserved the right to amend said T&Cs any way it wishes.
They have always been allowed to use any materials we have published for whatever they can get away with.
As they are developing their own flavour of AI, they now aim to train it using what we publish. Actually they have been for ages.
We can all publish disclaimers, but sadly Meta holds the cards. A full house.
Long ago we offered unlimited use, in perpetuity for every word and every photo we posted.
Copyright and intellectual property is an entire field of law.
I'm not a lawyer, so this is not legal advice, but to use another metaphor, the horse has bolted.
While the creator of a work does automatically gain copyright, as I said, when we signed up, we offered unlimited use, in perpetuity, for every word and every photo.
Messenger is even less secure and should be avoided for any sensitive topics.
When good people publish disclaimers, Meta's algorithm bridges the posting party with other parties and brings the two to the fore.
In reality, you'll now see more of my posts and visa versa.
I've spent over 25 years in IT and over 40 years writing content and publishing photographs, firstly as a Photojournalist and then building and opulatimg Websites.
I've seen my work republished ad nauseum.
Simply changing a portion, allows a bypass of copyright, as it is deemed to be a new piece of work.
A picture of David Bowie, that I took has been used around the world and I've never received a cent, beyond its initial use in a magazine.
Please don't take this reply as an insult or see the granularity, as condescending.
That is not my way, nor my intentent...
I only seek to help you, by providing insight.
Put simply, there is nothing to be gained by rehashing seemingly legitimate information as factual, when Facebook/Meta long ago secured rights to use our work for their own benefit.
Right now, that benefit is to train their AI LLMs (Artificial Intelligence, Large Language Models) and picture recogonition.
It isn't just Facebook/Meta...
Adobe just crossed the line, so badly on Photo usage that the internet blew up in outrage. Then the US government has put Two of their executives in court, for attempting to make cancelling subscriptions, almost impossible.
Fortunately they got discovered and called out by pro-photographers and they retracted their over-reach.
Again, I know you are trying to protect your friends, but all it will do is connect you to anyone who shares or reshares your post and can bring focus from 'bots' (robots: little semi autonomous scripts designed to achieve a given outcome, such as bring conflicting points of view or promote chaos).
Lastly, the best red flag is a call to:
"Hold your finger on this post and copy then share something."
If that appears, as a call to action, ignore it.
It is designed to prompt well meaning people to act immediately, usually in an attempt to spread false information.
Warm regards,
David Silverman
________________________
General Manager
Cygnet Interactive
