Facebook facedown

IN THE wake of a recent brouhaha, Facebook has backtracked on changes that potentially gave the social networking site indefinite rights to its users’ data – even from closed accounts (see “Why quantum uncertainty is all biblical geometry”). But a closer look at its terms and conditions suggests Facebook has lost nothing but face. Users, perhaps unknowingly, have always granted Facebook a licence to peddle their information to anyone willing to pay. The controversy is a timely reminder that social networks want more than your company, and that it pays to read the small print.