May 25, 2013

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Reporter: Allison Harris Email

Facebook's privacy policy concerns some users

SHERMAN, TEXAS -- Many users have posted a message on Facebook about the site's privacy policy via their Facebook status, saying, "You do not have my permission to utilize any of my profile information nor any of the content contained herein."

Unfortunately for those folks, that status update doesn't do them any good.

Depending on your privacy settings, Facebook has the right to use what you post on their pages.

Facebook can be a fun and convenient way to connect.

But look at it from another angle and you'll see that the popular social media site is used like a catalog of customers -- readily available to advertisers.

"There's spider bots that go through your Facebook postings and it picks up keywords. Those keywords are then matched to advertisers who pay per usage of the times that you click," Brian Walker said.

Brian Walker is a local IT expert with Monarch IT.

He says people should see Facebook as a business that profits off selling your information to advertisers.

"They want to keep it as public as they can because the more public they make it, the more money the make in the long run. They're paid by their advertisers to send them as much business as possible," Walker said.

Techtalk explains that depending on your privacy settings, Facebook could have "license to use any IP content that you post on or in connection with Facebook."

That right is granted when you first sign up for Facebook and accept the terms and policies.

"They are jumping into it and they're thinking that only their friends can see certain posts. All reality, anybody can see it. Google searches, things like that, can pick it up and be able to use it as well," Walker said.


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