You may have read and even shared a ‘copyright notice’ that’s making its way around Facebook right now. The message, which uses pseudo-legalese, implies that Facebook has recently changed the copyright provisions of its user agreement. The message has some users thinking that if they repost the copyright statement, it will keep Facebook from using the content they post. But it won’t. And the notice is completely false.The message goes something like this:“In response to new Facebook guidelines, I hereby declare that my copyright is attached to all of my personal details, illustrations, comics, paintings, professional photos and videos, etc (as a result of the Berner Convention).For commercial use of the above, my written consent is needed at all times. Anyone reading this can copy this text and paste it on their Facebook Wall. This will place them under protection of copyright laws …”You’ve probably seen this very message pop up — perhaps more than once — in your Facebook feed (I know I have). It’s a worrisome message that is being posted by people who are worried that Facebook will own their photos or other media — unaware that it’s a hoax.The viral copyright notice, which is essentially a chain letter, last spread on Facebook in May and June of this year. Now it’s back and getting a lot of attention.Popular hoax-debunking site Snopes addressed this copyright notice in the spring when it first made its way around. Facebook has taken it a step further putting out a statement of its own:“There is a rumour circulating that Facebook is making a change related to ownership of users’ information or the content they post to the site. This is false. Anyone who uses Facebook owns and controls the content and information they post, as stated in our terms. They control how that content and information is shared. That is our policy, and it always has been,” the company’s statement said.Here's the truth: While there is no such thing as the Berner Convention (there is a Berne Convention!), and the notice is a hoax, Facebook kind of does own your media.The bogus notice goes on instructing Facebook to get written permission to make commercial use of a user’s content, which is completely pointless because all Facebook users agree to let the social network make money off their posts when they sign up for the service (it’s in the company’s pesky Terms of Service you probably didn’t bother reading when you signed up).So, if you’re a Facebook user, and you agreed to Facebook’s Terms of Service (which you did because you’re a Facebook user), Facebook owns the pictures and videos you share — despite all the fake notices flying around that may tell you otherwise.Here’s what Facebook’s Terms of Service (that you probably never read) say:Sharing Your Content and InformationYou own all of the content and information you post on Facebook, and you can control how it is shared through your privacy and application settings. In addition:For content that is covered by intellectual property rights, like photos and videos (IP content), you specifically give us the following permission, subject to your privacy and application settings: you grant us a non-exclusive, transferable, sub-licensable, royalty-free, worldwide license to use any IP content that you post on or in connection with Facebook (IP License). This IP License ends when you delete your IP content or your account unless your content has been shared with others, and they have not deleted it.Translation: when you upload a photo or a video, Facebook is 100 percent entitled to use it (or sell it) until you delete that photo or video or delete your account — and you agreed to this when you signed up. Now, that’s not to say Facebook does that kind of thing, in fact, the company is adamant it doesn’t, but they have every right to if they want and no bogus post you copy and paste to your wall can change that. The moral of the story: read the fine print. If you don’t like it, don’t agree to it.