Privacy Digest

Suit accuses Blockbuster, Facebook of privacy law violations - Via Ars Technica :

A class-action lawsuit is brewing over Facebook's controversial Beacon tool and Blockbuster's involvement with it. Texas native Cathryn Elaine Harris has filed a lawsuit against Blockbuster, alleging that the company is actively and knowingly violating the Video Privacy Protection Act by reporting users' activities back to Facebook. The suit seeks to be certified as a class action, and asks that Blockbuster pay out $2,500 per incident in which it disclosed personally identifiable information.

The complaint, seen by Ars, points out that users' off-Facebook activities on Blockbuster are being reported back to Facebook, regardless of whether users choose to publish the information for their friends to see. Harris says that Blockbuster's activities violate the Video Privacy Protection Act, which prohibits "video tape service providers" from allowing third parties to access personally identifiable information about someone's renting or buying habits without their express, written consent. (The law was enacted in 1988 after a newspaper published records of 146 videos that Judge Robert Bork had rented during his consideration for a Supreme Court vacancy.) Harris says that Blockbuster knowingly violated the law by sending user information to Beacon when it was first launched, and that the company continues to do so to this day.

Facebook first launched Beacon last November, which was meant to act as a new marketing strategy that could benefit both advertisers and and Facebook users (more of the former than the latter). A number of companies, Blockbuster included, signed up to be part of the program, which meant that any user activity that took place on their respective web sites would subsequently be reported back to Facebook and published to users' timelines.

The problem was that Beacon was originally set up as a opt-out service instead of opt-in, so many users began finding their off-Facebook activities published on their Facebook profiles for all to see, automatically (and opting out was difficult). Since Beacon was launched close to the holiday shopping season, many users not only complained that their privacy was being grossly violated, but that Beacon had also ruined surprise presents that had been purchased online by publishing them to Facebook.

(Read Original Article - Via Ars Technica .)