Comments on: In Its Rush To Offer A Persian Version, Did Facebook Violate Its Terms Of Service?

By: Facebook Deletes the FanPage of Esmail Haneea -The Palestinian Prime Minister

Facebook Deletes the FanPage of Esmail Haneea -The Palestinian Prime Minister — Mon, 27 Jul 2009 09:49:55 +0000

[...] month facebook rushed to launch a Persian (Farsi) version of the site for users in Iran, a ” move that may be in violation of Facebook’s own terms of service. Clause 4.3 of [...]

By: Linkedin, code.google.com and GoDaddy Briefly Unblocked Sudan! -US Congressman Brian Baird: Sanctions do not require blocking! (Exclusive Video Interview)

Mon, 27 Jul 2009 08:34:04 +0000

[...] the 19th of June facebook rushed to launch a Persian (Farsi) version of the site for users in Iran, a move that may be in violation of Facebook’s own terms of service. By the way Iran also faces US sanctions along with Syria, Sudan, Cuba and North [...]

By: Leslie Nuccio

Tue, 23 Jun 2009 22:53:54 +0000

It seems that the world overall has realized that there is a need for people to have some sort of megaphone that allows them the freedom to speak out beyond their own borders, particularly in a country wherein the press (and, allegedly, the elections) are regulated. There are a lot of people in Iran trying to get their message heard – and if Facebook can facilitate this, and if Facebook’s mission is to connect people, so much the better. Timely and reactionary, yes; leeching, no.

Does FB have Twitter envy? Maybe. But with or without Twitter, they should have made this move. Whether or not it helps FB is irrelevant – this was the right thing to do.

Tossing out all the foreign journalists is something a government can do, but the power of the Internet makes a government-mandated blanket vox populi silencing that much harder. It’s clear that people will use whatever canvas or megaphone they have to make themselves heard; in my world, that’s T-shirts. (More detail on this specific phenomenon at blog dot cafepress dot com.)

So… no, I don’t think “leeching” is fair here. Just one of those perfect axis points where a company realized that their platform is powerful and incredibly relevant to a real-life world situation.

By: JOhn davis

JOhn davis — Tue, 23 Jun 2009 22:37:18 +0000

LOL, Do as I say, not as I do comes to mind here!

RT
http://www.anon-tools.tk

By: Facebook: Keeping Two Steps Behind - | OneSpot.com

Facebook: Keeping Two Steps Behind - | OneSpot.com — Mon, 22 Jun 2009 15:43:05 +0000

[...] on bloodstained Iran wagon (theregister.co.uk) Tech giants rush Farsi versions (news.bbc.co.uk) In Its Rush To Offer A Persian Version, Did Facebook Violate Its Terms Of Service? (techcrunch.com) Twitter on the Barricades in Iran: Six Lessons Learned (nytimes.com) Google And [...]

By: led panel

led panel — Sun, 21 Jun 2009 03:14:30 +0000

Awesom facebook.!

By: Internet Lawyer

Internet Lawyer — Sat, 20 Jun 2009 23:25:43 +0000

A few years ago no one paid much attention to terms of use agreements. Yeah, the big companies all had them, and many smaller companies did as well, but they were simply ignored. No more.

As privacy and security policies and processes become critically important to maintaining a company’s reputation, their terms of use and privacy policy will undergo an increasing level of scrutiny. Courts are also starting to disfavor a site’s policy of making unilateral modifications to these agreements and subsequently providing notice via a posting. Why? Because there was no acceptance to the new agreement by affirmatively clicking “I Agree.”

By: Jake T

Jake T — Sat, 20 Jun 2009 22:45:06 +0000

Am I the only one who is concerned that *everyone* is getting into the habit of conflating TOS with actual law.

Here’s a hint: violating TOS is (should be) a purely contractual matter between the service provider and its users.

Violating laws, on the other hand, is between you and the police/prosecutor.

By: Protests, Revolutions and Other Loud Noises | Chaos Program

Protests, Revolutions and Other Loud Noises | Chaos Program — Sat, 20 Jun 2009 19:07:07 +0000

[...] other notable response to the huge Internet presence of the Iranian protests was Facebook’s very fast rollout of a Farsi language version of its service. This could be seen as a sincere attempt to give the protesters a platform that can [...]

By: STAR

STAR — Sat, 20 Jun 2009 18:47:57 +0000

You should add ‘Again’ , The real title should be :
“In Its Rush To Offer A Persian Version, Did Facebook Violate Its Terms Of Service AGAIN?”
I’m sick with all facebook violations issues !

By: crab_apple

crab_apple — Sat, 20 Jun 2009 18:35:26 +0000

Actually, if Leena would dig a little deeper, there probably is a legitimate TOS violation here. We already know that Facebook has periodically violated its TOS by converting “friends” (engaged in non-commercial relationships) into “fans” (which can include commercial relationships):

http://tinyurl.com/ca6zen

Therefore, if there are Iranians that are fans of a for-profit entitiy on the site, then Facebook is breaking the embargo. I really wish TechCrunch would up the quality of its articles. There is so much going on out there that is shady, but it requires telling a story that might have to be a little longer than a single post.

By: Anti Matter

Anti Matter — Sat, 20 Jun 2009 18:31:26 +0000

Word to Iran. Block Facebook and Twitter once and for all. They are hypocrites. They will quickly shut down an account for Bull Shit, but quick to contribute in breaking U.S embargo laws and also the laws of those countries in aiding and abetting crime and violence.

Who knows, maybe a fatwa will be issued against them both. What say you?

By: links for 2009-06-20 | Yostivanich.com

links for 2009-06-20 | Yostivanich.com — Sat, 20 Jun 2009 14:02:47 +0000

[...] In Its Rush To Offer A Persian Version, Did Facebook Violate Its Terms Of Service? Facebook responds with : "To be incompliance with US law, we need to prohibit commercial activities from embargoed countries. As events in Iran have demonstrated, we have allowed, and plan to continue to allow, users to set up accounts from those countries and communicate, as long as they are not engaging in commercial activities on the site. [...]

By: Amir

Amir — Sat, 20 Jun 2009 10:00:04 +0000

As an Iranian I have to say that most of Internet users in Iran have enough knowledge of at least reading and understanding English. And of course Persian speakers outside Iran are fluent with English. So, I believe, Persian Interface is more a competitive strategy than a direct help to Persian users. Google translator can help non-Persian people to understand Persian content than help Persian people to understand English. Although this service has many weaknesses in translating from Persian to English.
But I am proud that recent events in Iran caused tendency of such giants. I believe that this one week of issues was enough for people around the world to hear our voice. Thx TC for reflection.

By: pwb

pwb — Sat, 20 Jun 2009 07:04:49 +0000

Mega-yawn.

By: Wayne Lambright

Sat, 20 Jun 2009 07:01:42 +0000

I agree

By: Wayne Lambright

Sat, 20 Jun 2009 07:00:50 +0000

Damn good point. Twitter could take it all over as the live voice of the world and face book is just a better designed myspace with advanced privileges and no backgrounds or sounds “yet”.

By: that is what

that is what — Sat, 20 Jun 2009 06:38:55 +0000

fb can never go wrong!

By: Geo IP Locator

Geo IP Locator — Sat, 20 Jun 2009 06:28:47 +0000

Alternatively Twitter is being used more often for organizing massive demonstrations, recently twitter being used by Moldova’s high-tech teens for such demonstrations.

By: Pooria

Pooria — Sat, 20 Jun 2009 02:52:18 +0000

You know than Iran’s 7th major city ( in case of population ) is L.A. with more than a million Iranian ?!!!! they speak persian too, and living in states!

By: Matt

Matt — Fri, 19 Jun 2009 23:52:02 +0000

“In Its Rush To Offer A Persian Version, Did Facebook Violate Its Terms Of Service?”

Short answer: No.

Long answer: No.

By: Alex

Alex — Fri, 19 Jun 2009 23:30:45 +0000

Leena Rao is in her nationalistic mood maybe?
Only the complete jerks quote this list. No matter how it happened it is silly as the republicans themself.

By: mr. money

mr. money — Fri, 19 Jun 2009 23:25:22 +0000

that clause in the TOS is just as good as “click here if you are over 18″ it’s pointless.

By: mr. money

mr. money — Fri, 19 Jun 2009 23:23:52 +0000

facebook doesn’t care about iran and they are not trying to change the world, they are only trying to compete with twitter.

By: mr. money

mr. money — Fri, 19 Jun 2009 23:22:15 +0000

stream of consciousness blogging