Facebook to Face FTC?
November 30th, 2007
Will Facebook have to face the Federal Trade Commission over their three-week-old Project Beacon and Social Ads platforms?If the Electronic Privacy Information Center and the Center for Digital Democracy have their way, you bet.
The two privacy watchdogs have said that they intend to file against Facebooks new advertising platforms, which they view as an invasion of users privacy. EPIC says theyll file by January; CDD has already begun an official complaint against behavioral targeting in general and says theyll join in action against Facebook.
, and offers a succinct summary of the difference between the two Facebook advertising programs:
"EPIC plans to protest both Facebooks SocialAds"which tells members which of their friends have signed on as fans of the advertisers" and Beacon ads, which notifies members friends about their off-site purchases."
Okay, Im not really thrilled with the programs, either. But I think this is going a bit far, really. Check out what EPIC has to say for themselves:
Part of what Facebook is doing is taking from people the value of their endorsements, which traditionally is something that people can be compensated for, and selling it back to their advertisers, says EPIC Executive Director Marc Rotenberg."
Traditionally is something that people can be compensated for, eh? Amazon.com owes me money for all those reviews Ive written for them, then. Oh, wait, what? I voluntarily did that just like Facebook users signing up for Social Ads voluntarily? Oh, right.
Just because people can be compensated for their endorsements doesnt mean that they should be, nor does it mean that we cant provide endorsements for free. (Besides, I humbly accept the fact that my endorsement wont bring in the same sum that an endorsement from, say, Michael Jordan would.)
Project Beacon, on the other hand, is way less cool. We already know theyve had popular opposition from such sites as MoveOn.org:
"The activist group MoveOn.org also is campaigning against Facebooks Beacon program, which publicizes information about peoples purchases to their friends. While users can opt-out of sharing such information "either at the point-of-purchase or on Facebook itself"MoveOn says the program should be opt-in only, to ensure that members have explicitly consented. Last week, MoveOn started a Facebook group Petition: Facebook, stop invading my privacy! which had drawn more than 28,000 members by Tuesday."
When I saw it yesterday, was just over 27,000 strong. Today? 41,000+. While the groups growth is pretty remarkable and will probably continue for at least a few weeks, its also important to remember that Facebook has almost 60M members. 41,000 is a drop in the bucket.
MediaPost also reports that this isnt the first FTC complaint against the new platforms:
"Within days of the launch, the Center for Digital Democracy and US Public Interest Research Group sent a letter to FTC chair Deborah Platt Majoras protesting Facebooks new ad programs as well as an expanded behavioral targeting effort on MySpace."
Many states have laws against using someones likeness in advertising without their consent, but Facebook argues that its users do give consent. MoveOn.org, EPIC, CDD and company argue that opting in to a brands page or neglecting to opt out of the service altogether to not consent make. Who is right?
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