Who owns the content you post in your social networking profile? That’s a question being tossed around a lot lately, as the industry and consumer advocates struggle to come up with an answer. Check out this from a San Jose Mercury News blog on the subject, which is at the core of a high-profile blogger’s recent run-in with Facebook:

"The data that your 'friends enter about themselves? Well, they've shared it with you, but is it yours to export? And since you've entered into an agreement with Facebook to voluntarily add information to Facebook's database, does the company have some kind of claim as well (not to mention some obligation to prevent one of your "friends" from exporting your contact information without letting you know)?"

Anne Collier, ConnectSafely’s co-founder, writes in her blog that while the issue of content ownership is indeed complex, it nevertheless provides great fuel for family discussions about how information we post can not only get away from us but also may no longer be "our" info.

Your thoughts?

Maureen

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Maureen Kochan
ConnectSafely forum manager