Posting A Copyright Paragraph On Social Media Means Nothing

Have you noticed a lot of people on social media lately posting long paragraphs with very convoluted, legal sounding language and references to apparent legal codes and international agreements? There's only one problem with all of that - it's doesn't mean a thing.

To put it simply, when we all signed up for Facebook (or any other website for that matter), we agree to their Terms of Service - it's that big, usually pages long paragraph that nobody really reads and just clicks "I Agree" to. And the thing is, you can't take it back or retroactively change what you already agreed to.

You already agreed to it.

The best analogy I saw was this one from a university professor, quoted by The Huffington Post:

You can’t unilaterally change those by posting a mashup of law-sounding words on your Timeline, in the same way you can’t unilaterally change your terms of employment by posting an announcement on your office door that you’ll only work 20 hours a week.

In fact, most of the legalese and "legal articles" quoted are completely made up.

It looks real fancy and a lot of people are falling for it but, in the end, it means a whole lot of nothing.

The best policy - if you don't want anyone using anything that you post, don't post it.