[governance] EPIC DEFENDS PRIVACY OF FACEBOOK USERS: FILES COMPLAINT WITH FTC

[Katitza Rodriguez]

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE 	
Thursday, December 17, 2009, 12:00 pm EST


EPIC DEFENDS PRIVACY OF FACEBOOK USERS: FILES COMPLAINT WITH FTC
http://epic.org/2009/12/epic-defends-privacy-of-facebo.html

Leading Privacy Organization says that Recent Changes by Facebook to  
User Privacy Settings are Unfair and Deceptive

WASHINGTON DC – The Electronic Privacy Information Center (EPIC),  
joined by nine privacy and consumer organizations, today filed a  
complaint with the Federal Trade Commission (FTC) charging that  
Facebook’s recent changes to user privacy settings violate federal  
consumer protection law.

The EPIC complaint urges the Trade Commission to open an investigation  
into the recent changes made by Facebook to the privacy settings of  
Facebook users and to require Facebook to restore privacy safeguards.

“This is the most significant case now before the Federal Trade  
Commission,” said Marc Rotenberg, EPIC Executive Director. “More than  
100 million people in the United States subscribe to the Facebook  
service. The company should not be allowed to turn down the privacy  
dial on so many American consumers.”

On November 19 and December 9, Facebook changed key privacy settings  
and required Facebook users to go through a “transition tool” before  
they could obtain access to their accounts.

According to the EPIC complaint, far more user information became  
publicly available as result of this change. EPIC also said that more  
personal information will become available to third party application  
developers as a result of the changes to the privacy settings.

The EPIC complaint cites widespread opposition to the changes by  
Facebook users, news organizations, bloggers, and security experts.

Ed Felten, a security expert and Princeton University professor,  
wrote, “As a user myself, I was pretty unhappy about the recently  
changed privacy control. I felt that Facebook was trying to trick me  
into loosening controls on my information.”

Danny Sullivan, the editor of Search Engine Land and an expert in  
search engine design, wrote on his blog, “I was disturbed to discover  
things I previously had as options were no longer in my control.”

The EPIC complaint also cites the creation of new Facebook user  
groups, such as “Against The New Facebook Privacy Settings!” and  
“Facebook! Fix the Privacy Settings.”

Among the organizations supporting the EPIC complaint are the American  
Library Association, the Center for Digital Democracy, the Consumer  
Federation of America, FoolProof Financial Education, Patient Privacy  
Rights, Privacy Activism, the Privacy Rights Now Coalition, the  
Privacy Rights Clearinghouse, and the U. S. Bill of Rights Foundation.

The EPIC is a public interest research center based in Washington, DC.  
EPIC focuses public attention on emerging privacy and civil liberties  
issues. Previous EPIC complaints to the FTC have led to the largest  
judgment in the Commission’s history, substantial changes to online  
authentication techniques, and the recent decision of the Department  
of Defense to stop selling a spyware program to military families.

# # #

RESOURCES:

EPIC’s Complaint, “In re Facebook,” filed December 17, 2009	
http://www.epic.org/privacy/inrefacebook/EPIC-FacebookComplaint.pdf

Background on EPIC Complaint, “In re Facebook”
http://www.epic.org/privacy/inrefacebook

EPIC, Facebook and Privacy	
http://epic.org/privacy/facebook/
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