175 Million Lawyers to Work for Facebook

They needed to do something. And they needed to do it fast. Only Facebook could seek 175 million opinions, and they are all free. Change that headline. 175 million lawyers working for free to help Facebook arrive at a Terms of Service (TOS) document. I don’t see a problem. This should lead to some great legal advice.

OK, so it could be a bit scary. Hey Facebook, could you like maybe make any references to my old girlfriend go away– and her too, if possible. She was so totally lame, she shouldn’t be allowed on Facebook. 175 million request pouring in. I really hope most don’t arrive after closing time. Maybe they should require all views to be faxed in… –to a single ancient fax machine. Hey dude, where can I find a fax machine? I got an idea for Facebook.

Maybe this is just what you deserve after a sequence of bonehead moves. I dread having a committee come up with a mission statement. What can this do? A well thought out TOS should consider the user community needs and seek a respectful, supportable and conscientious position. That would be great. I am hopeful that this public sausage-making process can address issues of concern. What would be ideal is for Facebook to set a new standard, not for process, but a TOS that can be used for all community services.

As users we routinely check the box, yes I can accept your draconian TOS if you will just let me use your services or whatever is offered. Users don’t really agree with the TOS. The system is broken. Facebook just got caught trying to break it in a most grievous manner. In some sense companies have been at the mercy of legal advice (not the 175 million kind) that may have a basis in protecting the corporation. There just have never been 175 million who are so well connected and dependent on the TOS. Well, every dog has its day, and just maybe 175 million finally with have their day.

175 Million amateur lawyers is indeed a scary thought, but let’s see if Facebook can find a sensible relationship with the user community. Maybe we can get a resulting landmark TOS from this awkward situation. This dog would be pleased and impressed with proof that social networking has the great future I think it does.

This entry was posted on Friday, February 27th, 2009 at 7:20 pm and is filed under Social Networking, Tech Life. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. Both comments and pings are currently closed.

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