Facebook makes it very easy to share pictures with friends and family. However the social network has often come under fire from privacy groups for its policies regarding use of user submitted content. “Reclaim Yourself” is an app that was released in December last year and all it does is add a watermark to pictures uploaded on Facebook so that they are less attractive for commercial use. Facebook has removed this app.
Reclaim Yourself was developed by a Dutch couple who say that Facebook had allowed them to launch this application last month. Now suddenly it has removed the app as well as all of the pictures that were uploaded through it.
Van Leunen, one of the developers, says a formal protest has been filed with Facebook but the social network hasn’t responded yet.
It merits mentioning here that Facebook has removed Reclaim Yourself in the days leading up to its new privacy rules that go in effect at the end of this week. The new rules give Facebook the right to “use all photographs uploaded to the site for other purposes.”
A Dutch privacy watchdog has already asked Facebook to defer its new privacy rules while it investigates who users might be impacted by the new policy. So far Facebook hasn’t said if it intends to do that.
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