Five Class-Action Suits Brought Against Facebook

Lawsuits Over Privacy

Last month (NET NEWS 9/30), ALL ACCESS reported that two U.S. congressmen asked the FEDERAL TRADE COMMISSION to investigate FACEBOOK's practice of tracking users even after they have logged out.

"When users log out of FACEBOOK, they are under the expectation that FACEBOOK is no longer monitoring their activities. We believe this impression should be the reality. FACEBOOK users should not be tracked without their permission," said the letter sent by EDWARD MARKEY (D-MA) and JOE BARTON (R-TX). "FACEBOOK was able to obtain this information when users visited websites that connect with FACEBOOK, including websites with 'Like' buttons," the letter said. "There are an estimated 905,000 sites that contain the 'Like' button."

Now, FACEBOOK is facing five new class-action lawsuits. MEDIAPOST reports, "the lawsuits allege that FACEBOOK violated wiretap laws by receiving data about users as they surf the Web -- even when they were logged out of the social networking service. The cases filed this week were brought in three different federal courthouses. DANA HOWARD sued in ILLINOIS, JOHN GRAHAM filed a complaint in KANSAS and MICHAEL SINGLEY brought suit in TEXAS. Those cases join two filed last week: a suit in federal court in MISSOURI by CHANDRA THOMPSON and one in CALIFORNIA by PERRIN AIKENS DAVIS and others."

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