SiliconBeat

Responding to a firestorm of protest, Facebook has apologized to its users and asked for their help in revising its terms of service.

The protest began last weekend, after the change was reported by The Consumerist, a blog sponsored by the Yonkers, NY-based Consumers Union, which publishes Consumer Reports. The blog flagged potentially troubling language that suggested Facebook was taking legal ownership of its users’ content.

By 11:40 p.m., more than 72,000 people had joined two online protest groups: People Against the new Terms of Service (TOS) and Facebook Owns You: Protest the New Changes to the TOS. Countless Facebook users simply canceled their accounts.

“I had posted some images to share with my friends and with their new policy, I felt that by posting those images on their Web site I was effectively turning over my copyright to them, and I didn’t think that was right,” said Rick Hanzlik, a photographer and owner of Specialty Art & Frame.

After an initial blog post on Monday by Facebook founder and chief executive Mark Zuckerberg failed to quell the protest, the company capitulated late Tuesday night. “Over the past couple of days, we received a lot of questions and comments about the changes and what they mean for people and their information,” Zuckerberg wrote in a new blog post.

“Based on this feedback, we have decided to return to our previous terms of use while we resolve the issues that people have raised. Many of us at Facebook spent most of today discussing how best to move forward. One approach would have been to quickly amend the new terms with new language to clarify our positions further. Another approach was simply to revert to our old terms while we begin working on our next version. As we thought through this, we reached out to respected organizations to get their input.”

Zuckerberg noted that Facebook, which has more than 175 million users, would be the sixth-most populated nation on earth if it were a country. “Our terms aren’t just a document that protect our rights; it’s the governing document for how the service is used by everyone across the world. Given its importance, we need to make sure the terms reflect the principles and values of the people using the service.”

Zuckerberg invited people who wanted to give input to the new terms to join the group Facebook Bill of Rights and Responsibilities.

“We’re extremely pleased about the change,” said Julius Harper, a 25-year-old computer game producer in Los Angeles who administrated the two protest group. “Facebook is listening, and we appreciate that.” But Harper added “the problem will not be fully addressed until we see the new terms.”

By 11:30 a.m. more than 90,000 people had joined the protest groups and more than 45,000 people had signed up for Facebook Bill of Rights.

Hanzlik  said he remains wary of the company. “If Facebook were to use the TOS as described in the “Bill of Rights”  document I might consider it,” he said in an e-mail. “However, when you look at their blog and see the  following paragraph, it says to me they have no intention of “doing the right thing”. It still looks to me like they are going to take  your intellectual property no matter what you do or say. At this point  if I do anything It will be on Myspace or on my own blog and through  e-mail.”