Shakespeare once famously wrote, “Kill all the lawyers” in his play, Henry VI Pt. 2.
While that is a sentiment anyone can understand who has ever been on the receiving end of a lawyer’s letter – like the one this very newspaper once got telling us to use the term “insulated flask” instead of the brand name everyone uses to describe the portable container they use to transport hot soup and coffee – it shows Shakespeare’s priorities were mixed up.
First, you kill all the politicians, then the lawyers… and then possibly those people who don’t use their turn signals, if you’ve got time and bullets left.
Oh, and the people who have more than 10 items at the 10-items-or-less checkout line at the supermarket – they gotta go, too.
But, truthfully we are all probably going to need the services of a lawyer at one time or another during our lives, so it is probably a good idea to keep at least one or two around to help us stay out of jail, sue the pants off someone or give us legal advice.
Because, let’s face it, the law is a complicated, complex and convoluted thing, and you need special knowledge to navigate its shark-infested waters. Although that certainly doesn’t stop some people from pretending they’re lawyers every darn time Facebook changes its privacy policies or alters itself in any way.
If you’ve been on the social media site lately, no doubt you’ve seen people posting a legal notice on their timelines about protecting their privacy rights and copyright.
I’ve seen a couple different forms of the notice, but generally it goes something like: “Due to the fact that Facebook has chosen to involve software that will allow the theft of my personal information, I state: at this date, in response to the new guidelines of Facebook, pursuant to articles L.111, 112 and 113 of the code of intellectual property, I declare that my rights are attached to all my personal data drawings, paintings, photos, video, texts etc.... published on my profile and my page. For commercial use of the foregoing my written consent is required at all times.”
They used the word “pursuant,” so it’s got to be totally legit, right?
Well, sorry to be the bearer of bad news, but posting such things on your Facebook timeline does not, in fact, opt you out of or immunize you from undesirable consequences. According to hoax-debunking site Snopes.com, users cannot “retroactively negate any of the privacy or copyright terms they agreed to when they signed up for their accounts, nor can they unilaterally alter or contradict any new privacy or copyright terms instituted by Facebook, simply by posting a contrary legal notice on their Facebook walls.”
That’s kind of like expecting someone to give you a crown just because you shout out, “I’m king of the world.” It just doesn’t work. You hear me, Leonardo DiCaprio?
But anyone actually worried about their Facebook postings and privacy needn’t fret anyway. When the aforementioned postings started first appearing a few years ago, Facebook actually issued a statement saying, “Anyone who uses Facebook owns and controls the content and information they post, as stated in our terms. They control how that content and information is shared. That is our policy, and it always has been.”
So, Facebook doesn’t own your intellectual property – you do (insomuch as funny cat pictures can be deemed “intellectual”).
But people fall for these type of Facebook hoaxes all the time, littering their timelines with nonsense about Bill Gates giving away free money for sharing the post, and chain letter-style updates urging you to cut-and-paste some post for increased luck, cash or blessings. Yes, as P.T. Barnum said, “There’s a sucker born every minute.”
So yes, Shakespeare did get it wrong. It should be politicians, lawyers… and then gullible people.
