Facebook lawyers or the Facebook algorithm pretending to be an employee acted like an On-Off switch. At Facebook there seem to be no grey area when it regards to the fair use of the platform.
The Back Story: An administrator of a Facebook group with 1015 Facebook user decided to help out some of the group members, by connecting out-of-work group members with other members whose employers have job openings. She sent out notices soliciting for the URLs of these job postings and then posted a message on the groups page asking the unemployed members to send her private mails. She erroneously assumed that it was okay to use Facebook as a platform to give back to some group members who had written lengthy posts about the hardship associated with being out of work. Facebook thought otherwise, as far as they were concerned, this was an unauthorised use of the platform. The promptly sent her a cease and desist notice.
It is unclear to me which of element of the TOS this user ran afoul of, but the threat of loosing the profile and friend connections which she had spent some time developing was enough to dissuade the administrator from continuing her drive to help out. It did not matter that this user was in an African country, connecting Africans with jobs in Africa. Facebook ought to realize that, broke does not recognize intellectual property and TOS. Broke just wants to stop being broke. Firms that are flexible and have a human face will thrive while those that are rigid and closed will under perform. History shows us that open will always win, it may take time, but eventually open wins.
What is Facebook afraid of? That someone may actually use their platform for good. How dare you try to hook up ‘friends‘ that are out of jobs with others that may have openings at their place of work? Oh by the way here are a bunch of useless apps for you to spend your time rejecting.
Update: I have been informed by a friend who is more knowledgeable about stuff like these that this actions are taken to avoid setting a bad precedence.
Personally, I am not convinced. This brings to mind a bigger question that was initially introduced by Cory Doctorow. How do individuals at the BOP handle Intellectual property laws that are clearly skewed in favour of those that developed it. See the book Content by Doctorow for the shady history of the introduction of IP laws.
Tags: cease-and-desist, Employment, Facebook, Intellectual property
If this is a fact ,then i am absolutely disappointed.Does it mean that they would rather allow their website platform applications be operated by their staff alone?If so then they have totally defeated the purpose.
Viewing from facebook's perspective,i can also say that i have a support for them for not allowing the user to operate illegal business on their webpage.It's possible they thought she was generating money SOMEHOW from the people she help link through her JOB SEARCH platform.
You mentioned that broke doesnt understand some things,absolutely .Who are the broke broke ?and what have they ever originally done about it?Africans of course ,and why has there NEVER been a website from africa that is genuinelinetersted in offsetting poverty or alleviating it through links .The bottom line ,we really dont care.I mean africans red ,white or black.It's the nature of an afrcan to expect everything around him to halt while he ascends,there are laws of physics that wont allow that …