New York — A group of five people have filed a civil lawsuit against Facebook Monday, alleging that the social-networking site has violated a host of California consumer privacy laws pertaining to copyright, truth in advertising and safeguarding users’ personal information.
The lawsuit, which was filed Monday in California’s Orange County Superior Court on behalf of five users, accuses Facebook of being a data-mining operation that does not deliver on promises to give users strict control of data uploaded to profile pages, seeks a jury trial, as well as demanding for monetary damages and an injunction to halt the objectionable practices.
The 40-page complaint accuses the Palo Alto, Calif.-based company of violating California privacy and online privacy laws by disseminating private information to third parties for commercial purposes.
“Plaintiffs and the general public wants and expect a level of privacy, which Facebook has failed to deliver satisfactorily under its current policies, procedures, practices, and technology,” the complaint states.
The plaintiffs blame, among other things, that Facebook’s licensing agreement amounts to a claim of permanent ownership of all material its users post, regardless of whom they choose to share it with.
Facebook users expect that personal information and photos that they post on the site are shared only with authorized friends, the suit reads. “Users may be unaware that data they submit … may be extracted and then shared, stored, licensed or downloaded by other persons or third parties they have not expressly authorized,” the suit says.
So all photos, writings and other material posted to the site is used without permission from the owner infringes on the creator’s rights, the lawsuit alleges.
The five plaintiffs are described as two children younger than 13, a user of the original Facebook, a professional photographer, and an actress and model.
Facebook, for its part, dismissed the lawsuit as being without merit and promised a legal battle. The suit asks for unspecified cash damages.
“We see no merit to this suit and plan to fight it,” Facebook spokesman Barry Schnitt said in a statement.
The plaintiffs’ attorney did not immediately respond to a request for comment.
Although Facebook is no stranger to privacy controversy, the social networking giant has firmly maintained that its members own information they post to profile pages and control who gets to see it.
However, in July, an inquiry by Canada’s privacy commissioner suggested Facebook is unconcerned with members’ privacy and demanded on it to do more. Commissioner Jennifer Stoddart expressed concern that while it is easy for members to deactivate their accounts, it is less clear on how to actually delete them. Facebook could therefore retain member data from deactivated accounts for an indefinite period of time in violation of Canadian privacy law.
Meanwhile, Facebook has repeatedly amended its terms of service to appease privacy concerns of users while allowing for the technical side of running a social networking service.
Last month, Facebook announced it is testing a tiered level of privacy options including “all of your friends, your friends and people in your school or work networks, and friends of friends.”
“Facebook’s business model, however, has transformed from that of a social network into that of a data mining company,” the suit claims. “Facebook actively seeks to open and/or disseminate private information to third parties for commercial purposes and economic benefit.”
In short, what started as an insecure social network has morphed into a predatory commercial machine hell-bent on harvesting its users’ most private thoughts for financial gain.