Why Do People Keep Falling For That Stupid Facebook Hoax?

So there you are with your coffee, cruising Facebook.  Pictures of friend's kids, last night's food, obligatory cat video, tinfoil-hat rant about (insert opposing political party here.) All is well. And then... it hits."On this day ... blah blah blah ... in response to ... yadda yadda yadda... Rome statute... etc. etc. etc. ... I do solemnly declare ..."

People! How many times are we going to blindly re-post a bunch of mumbo-jumbo that doesn't do anything, has no legal standing, and doesn't even make sense?

The disclaimer would have you believe that Facebook is plotting to do all kinds of evil things with your data, and that by posting said disclaimer you have given yourself some kind of Kryptonite-like protection. (See what I did there with "said disclaimer?")

The truth is, as it always has been and always will be, that Facebook can do whatever it wants with your data as long as they don't violate the terms of service you agreed to by registering a Facebook account.

No amount of legal jargon will change that, especially when it doesn't even apply to privacy issues. The "Rome Statute," while sounding official, deals with war crimes.

I'm always amazed when this thing pops up in my feed every few weeks. I know (and like!) just about everyone on my "friends" list.  Over my 6 years on Facebook, I've managed to hide, delete or block most of the crazies, drama queens and kings, and angry ranters, so it's always a surprise to me that someone fell for the disclaimer once again.

It's OK to have a healthy degree of mistrust for all things digital.  In this age of cyber-hacking, identity theft and credit card data being stolen from big businesses weekly that makes perfect sense.

But come on!

This thing has been circulating around Facebook for the better part of 4 years now and it's been debunked since Day 1. A quick check of Snopes (or your favorite search engine if you're one of the Snopes-mistrusters) helps keep you from perpetuating a myth.

And really. let's keep things in perspective.

What's Facebook really going to do with your cat video and that perfectly framed shot of last night's chicken cacciatore?

In closing all I can say is that as of this day, Jan. 6, 2015, I do hereby declare that ipso facto, e pluribus unum, habeas corpus, veni vidi vici, Cultasaurus Erectus.  That should keep me safe for awhile.