p2pnet - rss feed: Blockbuster sued over Facebook Beacon
p2pnet news | Freedom:- Did Facebook and Blockbuster violate a video privacy law when movie choices made by Facebook members were made available to others?”
The question was asked by James Grimmelmann, associate professor at the New York Law School, last year.
“The case against Blockbuster is quite straightforward,” Computerworld had him saying, going on, “I’m surprised that there haven’t been lawsuits already in terms of Blockbuster.”
Facebook’s Beacon program, designed to track members around the web for the benefit of advertisers, may be dead, kind of, but its memory, and its stink, linger on.
Cathryn Elaine Harris, from Texas, has sued Blockbuster, saying it violated the federal Videotape Privacy Protection Act by sharing information about her movie rentals and sales with Facebook without first getting her written consent, says Silicon Valley Insider.
She now wants class-action status and at least $2,500 for each violation of the 1988 law, passed after a newspaper obtained the video rental records of US Supreme Court nominee Robert Bork, says MediaPost.
When it was launched, Beacon automatically scooped users’ online travel data, sending it to other users as part of Facebook’s ad program.
Users were outraged when they found out what was going on, launching a Facebook group which signed up well over 50,000 members.
The company was forced to backtrack, asking for opt-in instead of opt-out consent.
But, “the Beacon platform still allegedly transmits information about people’s activity from Blockbuster to Facebook, unless they have checked a box telling Blockbuster to never send such information,” says MediaPost, and such “behind-the-scenes transmission” also violates the act, says Harris in the story, going on:
“To this day, Blockbuster online members remain unsuspecting victims.”
MediaPost has Blockbuster spokesman Randy Hargrove claiming, “Our alliance with Facebook included numerous levels of privacy protection built in for our online subscribers. ”
While we cannot discuss the specifics of this lawsuit, we intend to vigorously defend the company in this litigation.”
made available - Did Blockbuster, Beacon, break video privacy law?, December 14, 2007
Computerworld - Did Blockbuster, Facebook break video privacy law with Beacon?, December 10, 2007
Silicon Valley Insider - Facebook Borks Blockbuster: Beacon Turns Into A Lawsuit, April 17, 2008
MediaPost - Blockbuster Sued For Participating In Facebook’s Beacon Program, April 17, 2008
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