Lawsuit targets social website

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Lawsuit targets social website

Claims Facebook sells users' personal info

By:

3/07/2010 1:00 AM

Canadian law firm has launched a class-action lawsuit against Facebook,

claiming the Internet site duped users into letting their private information be

sold for profit.

On Friday morning, Merchant Law Group filed a statement of claim against

Facebook in a Manitoba court, taking the social networking giant to task over

its controversial privacy policies.

The claim alleges Facebook takes users' private information, including photos,

personal details and messages, and " misappropriates said content... for its

benefit and gain, " including by releasing the information to advertisers and

computer application developers.

In other words, the writing's on your Facebook wall, but who else's is it on?

Since launching in 2006, Facebook has loosened and restructured its privacy

settings. Last year, controversial changes to the site's 5,830-word privacy

policy made public some types of information, including users' names, locations,

profile photos and friends lists.

Facebook also changed its privacy options so most of at least 29 different types

of information default as public unless users manually alter each setting. Some

of this information is given to advertisers to facilitate highly targeted ads

and to third-party companies who develop games and other content for Facebook.

That, said Merchant Group's Winnipeg lawyers, means Facebook's 400 million users

worldwide run the risk of wrongs ranging from identity theft to invasion of

privacy. " When you release info that should be private, there's any number of

unintended consequences, " said Norman Rosenbaum, one of the Winnipeg lawyers on

the case.

The lawsuit is just the latest bolt in a long-running lightning storm of

critical and legal concern over Facebook's increasingly transparent walls. Last

year, Canada's privacy commissioner voiced concerns about Facebook's policies,

prompting the company to agree to changes that would bring it in line with the

nation's Personal Information and Protection and Electronic Documents Act

(PIPEDA).

Facebook is also facing a class-action lawsuit in the United States, which was

launched in February over the same concerns. In late May, Facebook founder Mark

Zuckerberg announced changes that would make it easier for users to tighten

their privacy. Those changes didn't go far enough, the Merchant Group suit

alleges.

It's not known yet how long it will take for the class-action lawsuit to go

through the courts. That depends, in part, on how Facebook responds, Rosenbaum

said.

Facebook's Palo Alto, Calif., head office did not immediately answer messages

Friday afternoon regarding the lawsuit. The allegations have not yet been proven

in court and the claim has not yet been certified as a class action.

Some specifics, including the value of damages claimed in the suit, are expected

to come out in the course of the litigation.