Facebook caught in the thick of violating users’ privacy, their biggest trade weapon

What could be worst for Facebook on the brink of announcing Initial Public Offering?

Federal Trade Commission (FTC) warned Facebook to straighten things up before leaping ahead in the corporate world. The FTC gave the social network a nudging wake-up call after concluding their 2-year long investigation into their privacy mechanism.

It was more of a final warning as FTC handed out a parole deal to Facebook in case of any privacy violation on their website in the future. The committee that probed into FB’s privacy details concluded that the network had been involved in the infringement
of a number of consumer privacy rights on several levels at several occasions.

CEO Mark Zuckerberg was remorseful, quoted in his blog post on Facebook:

“Overall, I think we have a good history of providing transparency and control over who can see your information.

That said, I’m the first to admit that we’ve made a bunch of mistakes. In particular, I think that a small number of high profile mistakes, like Beacon four years ago and poor execution as we transitioned our privacy model two years ago.

Even if our record on privacy were perfect, I think many people would still rightfully question how their information was protected. It’s important for people to think about this, and not one day goes by when I don’t think about what it means for us to be
the stewards of this community and their trust.”

FTC Chairman visited Zuckerberg’s blog and praised his coming forward and conceding to the convictions.

“He acknowledges mistakes his company has made and affirms his company’s future commitment to privacy,” he said.

As it was the first time, Facebook had been found guilty of such coarse doings. FTC bestowed their kindness on the young billionaire and his company.

Facebook will have to pay $15,000 for every activity that violates a single privacy act in law books henceforth. Moreover, their network can be brought down from the grid if it is seen persistent in these condescending activities.

Following is the list of violations committed by Facebook over the last years:

• In December 2009, Facebook changed its website so certain information that users may have designated as private – such as their Friends List – was made public. They didn’t warn users that this change was coming, or get their approval in advance.
• Facebook represented that third-party apps that users’ installed would have access only to user information that they needed to operate. In fact, the apps could access nearly all of users’ personal data – data the apps didn’t need.
• Facebook told users they could restrict sharing of data to limited audiences – for example with “Friends Only.” In fact, selecting “Friends Only” did not prevent their information from being shared with third-party applications their friends used.
• Facebook had a “Verified Apps” program & claimed it certified the security of participating apps. It didn’t.
• Facebook promised users that it would not share their personal information with advertisers. It did.
• Facebook claimed that when users deactivated or deleted their accounts, their photos and videos would be inaccessible. But Facebook allowed access to the content, even after users had deactivated or deleted their accounts.
• Facebook claimed that it complied with the U.S.- EU Safe Harbor Framework that governs data transfer between the U.S. and the European Union. It didn’t.

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Posted by Usman Khalid on Nov 30 2011. Filed under Latest News, USA. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0. You can leave a response or trackback to this entry