CIPPIC demands Facebook privacy probe
p2pnet news | P2P:- Canadian law students have analysed Facebook’s privacy policies in detail and found the claims aren’t what they’re cracked up to be.
Now CIPPIC (Canadian Internet Policy and Public Interest Clinic) wants privacy commissioner Jennifer Stoddart to investigate possible violations of Canadian privacy laws.
“Facebook isn’t being up-front with users about its use of their information for advertising and other commercial purposes,” CIPPIC director Philippa Lawson told p2pnet.
With the third largest Facebook user base after the USA and the UK, it, “purports to give users more control than they actually have over the sharing of their information,” she says, going on:
“It shares more information than necessary with third parties, and it fails to obtain informed consent from users to its sharing of often sensitive personal information with third parties.”
All of these are violations of Canadian privacy law, Lawson declares, stating, “It’s time that Facebook faced up to its legal and ethical obligations to protect user privacy.”
‘Targeted advertising’
CIPPIC’s 35-page complaint alleges 22 separate violations, including Facebook’s failure to tell members how their personal information is disclosed to third parties for advertising and other profit-making activities, and its failure to get permission for such uses and disclosures of personal information.
Law students Lisa Feinberg, Harley Finkelstein and Jordan Plener, some of whom are dedicated Facebook users, analysed the company’s policies and practices as part of a clinic course and identified practices which appear to violate the Canadian Personal Information Protection and Electronic Documents Act (PIPEDA).
“We chose to focus on Facebook because it is the most popular social networking site in Canada and because it appeals to young teens who may not appreciate the risks involved in exposing their personal details online,” says Lawson.
“Facebook promotes itself as a social utility, but it’s also involved in commercial activities like targeted advertising,” states Feinberg.
“Facebook users need to know that when they’re signing up to Facebook, they’re signing up to share their information with advertisers.”
‘We’re concerned that Facebook is deceiving its users,’ says Feinberg. “‘Facebook promotes itself as a social utility, but it’s also involved in commercial activities like targeted advertising.
“Facebook users need to know that when they’re signing up to Facebook, they’re signing up to share their information with advertisers.”
Facebook, “purports to provide users with a high level of control over their data,’ says Finkelstein, “But our investigation found that this is not entirely true – for example, even if you select the strongest privacy settings, your information may be shared more widely if your Facebook Friends have lower privacy settings.
“As well, if you add a third party application offered on Facebook, you have no choice but to let the application developer access all your information even if they don’t need it.”
Says Penner, “We believe that many Facebook Users, especially young people, don’t appreciate the extent to which their often sensitive personal information is being shared beyond their social circle.”
Under PIPEDA, the Privacy Commissioner has up to a year to investigate and render her findings on the complaint.
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