EFF: Facebook Video Copyright Infringement System May Put User Privacy at Risk

Facebook's new system for recognizing copyright infringement in videos could require users to share private videos with third parties, potentially threatening users' online free expression and privacy, activist Elliot Harmon wrote Tuesday in an Electronic Frontier Foundation blog post. A user who shares a video only with friends or a private group, but has it flagged by Facebook's new system, won't be allowed to share it "unless you are willing to show it to the rights holder as well," he wrote. But he said EFF hasn't seen this happen yet. While he said the policy may be better than some alternatives, "Facebook has effectively created a new restriction for private communications." This could put a user's privacy at risk and it could also undermine fair use rights, said Harmon. "Rights holders can’t see your name, but there’s no way to scrub personally identifying information from the video itself." He said the company launched the video system with a small group of content creators, but plans to expand that base of users. Facebook had no immediate comment.