Q&A: Protecting Facebook pics

I was asked the following the following question by a reader:

“You claim, "Nobody can legally go into your photos and download them to their hard drive" and say that Facebook policies specifically prohibit it. I am skeptical since there is a "download" option available for every image on facebook. Also, your computer *must* download the image to your hard drive in order to display it in your web browser. So your claim is false unless you can provide a source that gives your claim some kind of credibility.”

Here’s my response:

All online property whether photos, music, literature, or art (and so on) is legally protected under the Digital Millenium Copyright Act from the "fair use" arguement, since by default, all works are automatically licensed under "ALL RIGHTS RESERVED".  Google "all rights reserved" and it should tell you about how it became obsolete with it becoming an automatic process once a work is created.

Fair use only applies to online creative/or otherwise works that use creative commons.  Otherwise downloading any material without the owner's written permission and attribution (whichever creative commons they use) is technically copyright theft. Read DMCA Takedown and DMCA Copyright Act.

It is technically illegal to do so, however most people download items regardless, you only get into real trouble if you claim it as your own or repost the item on the internet, then rightful owners can send a DMCA Takedown accordingly.