Facebook owns photos
By Pulkhit Sharma

Before you create an account on hotmail, yahoo, rediff or Facebook, you are prompted to sign a ‘Terms of Service’ agreement about the legal framework under which you use the service. Most of us never read such contracts.  And even if we did, half just seems like legal mumbo jumbo.

If you did read the agreement to use Google’s new browser Chrome,  you will see that “you have agreed that any ‘content’ you ‘submit, post or display’ using the service - whether you own its copyright or not - gives Google a ‘perpetual, irrevocable, worldwide, royalty-free, and non-exclusive license to reproduce, adapt, modify, translate, publish, publicly perform, publicly display and distribute’ it”.  In simple terms, it means that Google owns anything you create using its browser.

The Google mail Gmail contract says “Google reserves the right (but shall have no obligation) to pre-screen, review, flag, filter, modify, refuse or remove any or all Content from any Service.”  In simple terms, it means that Google can read any of your emails.

The Facebook contract says you handover all rights to your photos when you sign on to network.  Check out this excellent article in valleywag which has spent much time and resources researching the legalese behind such contracts.