In mid-February Facebook changed its terms of service which outraged many Facebook users. The change in terms of service gave Facebook an irrevocable worldwide license to use, retain, modify and distribute their content as well as use their names, likenesses and images for any purpose.
In response to the users outrage, Facebook announced in late February that it would give its users the opportunity to determine the policies governing the service.
The preliminary numbers indicate that approximately 74.4 percent of users who voted chose the proposed documents -- the new Facebook Principles and Statement of Rights and Responsibilities -- over the existing terms of use. More than 600,000 users participated in the vote.
Although the participants in Facebook's pioneering vote this month, only amounted to a small fraction of the social network's user base of more than 200 milliion. But the site is willing to adopt the new governance policy.
Facebook users will now own their information and retain the right to remove content from the Facebook service anytime they wish, under these new governance policies.
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