corigin.com

Tom Lee over on Techdirt has a well written post on Scoble’s banning from Facebook for violating its privacy terms. The dispute in question is that Robert used a Plaxo script (a beta developed script written by Plaxo) to transfer his Facebook contacts (name address and birthday) into Plaxo. Facebook claimas it is a violation of their privacy policy to extract user information with a script. Scoble believes that he only transferred information he could access manully. Other suggested that he should not be penalised himself for using a feature of a companies site he did not develop himself, and that Facebook is engaged in restraint of trade by trying to prevent Plaxo from gaining any information on their network.

This is not new ground for Scoble having previously been suspended on Secondlife for allowing his under 18 son to use his account. I think this issue will probably involve a lot of noise but is unlikely to lead to much. The title of Tom Lee’s article is fantastic advise though

Just Assume Any Info You Put Online Is Public

If you have any concerns about whether someone might now or in the future find something out about you that you would prefer they didn’t know, or would find embarrasing, simply don’t post it anywhere online.

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