Google deletes artist’s blog, a decade of his work
When my brother died in 2010, I posted to that effect on Facebook. Many friends (majority of them &quot;real life,&quot; pre-Facebook&#x2F;outside of Facebook friends) gave their condolences. Others called me. A few messaged me, etc. You get the picture.<p>That correspondence was, and remains, important to me.<p>Does Facebook own it? Can they delete it if they want to? Can they block me from accessing it?<p>The answer, at least as far as current law stands, is yes they can. I imagine the ToS that I signed up to indemnify them from any claims I may have.<p>But should they have these rights? If people had written me snail mail condolences, I&#x27;d keep that archive for as long as I want.<p>From where I&#x27;m standing, Facebook, Gmail, etc, are like the post office, as far communication between people is concerned. It just happens whereas the post office sells postage stamps to senders, and rents post office boxes to recipients, Gmail puts adverts in my inbox. In return, they deliver my mail, and agree to store my archive for me.<p>That shouldn&#x27;t give them unilateral rights to my stuff, any more rights than a post office or FedEx or DHL would have (Oh look, DHL is actually a post office off-shoot). Because although it is on their servers, it&#x27;s my stuff, in every sense of ownership.<p>The law currently favors them, but the law, I feel, will have to change. Even if the ToS says they own my stuff, that will have to change.