Facebook Beacon Tracking Program Draws Privacy Lawsuit - Via Threat Level:

Facebook and its advertising partners are facing a federal class action lawsuit targeting its Beacon program launched last fall, which alleges that Facebook violated federal wiretap law when it began monitoring and publishing what Facebook users were doing on sites like Blockbuster.com and Zappos.com.

Facebook's Beacon program faced an immediate onslaught of criticism since users were automatically opted into having purchases disclosed to your friends and networks -- spoiling, most famously, a man's surprise Christmas jewelry present for his wife from Overstock.com. (No surprise, he's one of the plaintiffs). Facebook users who bought items from select stores or rented movies or purchased movie tickets had their purchases automatically noted on their Facebook profile and in the news feeds of their friends.

The suit (.pdf), filed Tuesday in federal district court in California, accuses the social networking site and advertising partners of illegally spying on its customer's communications with the advertiser's sites in violation of federal wiretapping law.

The suit also contends that Blockbuster, Fandango, GameFly and Overstock.com illegally publicized customers' movie choices, in violation of the Video Privacy Protection Act (enacted after a newspaper published Supreme Court nominee Robert Bork's video rental records).

The suit seeks to force Facebook to rein in Beacon even more than it has and to purge the data it has collected so far. The suit also seeks unspecified damages.

The suit also names Hotwire, Zappos.com, STA Travel among the plaintiffs. It also further alleges violations of federal and state anti-hacking laws.

See Also:

• Canadian Law Clinic: Facebook Violates Canadian Privacy Law
• Adware Maker Says Facebook Security Warning False and ...
• Facebook Private Profiles Not As Private As You Think They Are ...
• Google-DoubleClick Privacy Fight Hangs Over Fed's E-Advertising Forum

(Read Original Article - Via Threat Level.)