The previous settlement in November noted that the social networking giant came on terms to settle charges that it mislead consumers regarding their privacy. Moreover, the social networking giant even agreed upon the fact that it failed to keep promises those were made to protect that privacy.
The noting was finalized, wherein Facebook had to be more forthright with its members and make sure that any changes that they make concerning privacy must be clearly and prominently spelled out.
The letter from EPIC to FTC is relevant as it was a letter from EPIC that struck the FTC investigation. It eventually led to the aforementioned settlement.
Having just reached a settlement with the Commission in which the company is required “to take several steps to make sure it lives up to its promise in the future, including giving consumers clear and prominent notice and obtaining consumers’ express consent before their information is shared beyond the privacy settings they have established,” Facebook is changing the privacy setting of its users in a way that gives the company far greater ability to disclose their personal information than in the past. With Timeline, Facebook has once again taken control over the user’s data from the user and has now made information that was essentially archived and inaccessible widely available without the consent of the user.
EPIC, is basically concerned with Timeline, as it notes that Facebook randomly chooses information from a user’s personal data, which is available for everyone to see. However, users have an option to set their privacy settings and remove or add stuffs they want to, which would be available for everyone to see.
Facebook, had a lot to defend itself against this recent claim. It stated the following, wherein a Facebook spokesperson said, “As we explained when we announced timeline in September, and we reiterated last month when it became available worldwide, timeline doesn’t change the privacy of any content.” He further added, “Everything is accessible to the same people who could or likely had seen it already in their News Feed sometime in the past. In addition, timeline offers a number of new, simpler, and more effective ways for people to control their information, including activity log, the most comprehensive control tool we’ve ever developed. We think these innovations are things privacy advocates should be applauding.”
It seems like Facebook finally has a claim, which can actually be defended by the social networking giant to keep things calm, as it was quick to reply on the ‘Timeline’ issue.