Corporate Intellectual Property Theft Warning

Image courtesy of Pixabay
Yesterday someone asked about a new Facebook program - a Patreon clone subscription program for creators. Her question was

What would it take for you to do this on FB, to sell/promote, your books/art?

I sat on my fingers and didn't reply for a while but oddly enough this morning the following article popped in my news feed

Creators are aghast at the terms of Facebook's Patreon competitor

Facebook invited some page owners to try out its Fan Subscription service Monday night, a new feature that directly competes with Patreon. But the terms of the agreement and Facebook's history with page owners have caused many to scoff at and shirk the offer.

If you are a creator, I urge you to read this article and think long and hard about using the "new" FaceBook program.

I don't like FB, I don't trust FB, in fact, I pray for the day that a rival appears and takes over their audience. (COME ON Blockchain! Do your stuff and give me an FB killer Dapp!) I wish with every fiber of my being that I didn't have to be on FB and I've even changed my product line to be able to reach audiences that don't hang on FB.

I have hated FB long before Cambridge Analytica came to light - about the time years ago when I discovered they NEVER close an account. You may think they do, but they keep them and inflate their user numbers with defunct member accounts. Their lack of transparency and even a sliver of ethical behavior makes me grit my teeth every time I have to use them.

Their latest thing is grabbing your info when you use them to set up credentials with other sites. By info I mean a hell of a lot more than name and email address!

Their annual report shows an enormous amount of income that absolutely can not be coming from their abysmal ads program. To say they aren't selling info and influence is laughable.

Rather than improve their own platform by their own efforts, they steal (and always have) competitors features. They don't keep my work safe from thieves because they are thieves themselves. They steal my info, (which makes me giggle because it's not real - my real habits and info are on two devices that do not have any link whatsoever to FB or any of its properties) they open their network to other professional thieves and they do nothing to stop the abuses of their members.

And now they OWN my work if I'm naive enough to join this new program of theirs??? I think not! Not in this lifetime! I know they steal whatever they can from me without my permission, but I"m not going to give them approval for theft - ever. It's little wonder (to me anyway) that the only platform rivaling FB with more copyright and IP theft going on with its members is Pinterest.

I will not put a single penny into their coffers or contribute any useful information to their network of platforms. For every penny I make using them, they have made 50 and allowed me to be ripped off for 100. This new clone they've made of other platforms like Patreon is just their latest method of digital thievery and I will absolutely not be a part of it or recommend it or even mention it to anyone I know. I urge you to do the same. /rant