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A copy-and-paste status is flooding Facebook feeds across SA, in which a few over-zealous Facebookers are taking a proverbial stand against Facebook's alleged "new" privacy policy.
"Deadline tomorrow !!!" a generic version of this status reads.
"Everything you've ever posted becomes public from tomorrow."
Unless, apparently, you post this as your status:
"With this statement, I give notice to Facebook it is strictly forbidden to disclose, copy, distribute, or take any other action against me based on this profile and/or its contents," The content of this profile is private and confidential information. The violation of privacy can be punished by law (UCC 1-308- 1 1 308-103 and the Rome Statute). NOTE: Facebook is now a public entity. All members must post a note like this. If you prefer, you can copy and paste this version. If you do not publish a statement at least once it will be tactically allowing the use of your photos, as well as the information contained in the profile status updates. DO NOT SHARE. Copy and paste."
Sounds a little sketchy, yes?
It is.
For example, that very serious sounding "UCC 1-308- 1 1 308-103 the Rome Statute"? Neither the UCC (which stands for The Uniform Commercial Code) nor the Rome Statute have ANYTHING to do with Facebook.
The Uniform Criminal Code is a model code meant to standardise international commerce, The Inquistor reports, and the Rome Statue is an international treaty established to deal with war criminals.
In any case, posting a status is not going to change a thing in your privacy settings. As one of the leading tech organisations in the world, Facebook's security systems are slightly more advanced than a copy-and-paste status.
As the Telegraph points out, the company has a data policy that governs how information is shared, which states it's the users themselves who dictate what information is public and private.
This hoax has been circulating for a while, and Facebook themselves actually addressed it four months ago.
"You may have seen a post telling you to copy and paste a notice to retain control over things you share on Facebook," they said in a statement.
"Don't believe it. Our terms say clearly: You own all of the content and information you post on Facebook, and you can control how it's shared through your privacy and application settings. That's how it works, and this hasn't changed."
On the other hand, it is worth noting that if there are some statuses/photos/check-ins that you're terrified will be made public, you probably shouldn't have posted them online in the first place...
As local social media law expert Emma Sadlier says, anything posted online should be treated “like a tattoo”, TimesLive reports.
"Apply the billboard test. If you don’t want everything you post online to be seen on a billboard on the side of the highway, don’t post it."
Click here if you think your security settings could do with some tidying up.
More tech tips:
10 things you need to do to make sure your Facebook account is safe and secure
Now you can make your Facebook messages ‘secret’
Help, my Facebook profile has been hacked!
There’s a way to see ALL the information Facebook has on you
