But the privacy advocates, including the Electronic Privacy Information Center, Consumer Watchdog and the Center for Digital Democracy, say that the changes encroach on user privacy and may violate a 2011 settlement between Facebook and the FTC.
Facebook did not immediately respond to a request for comment on the groups’ letter to the FTC. Agency spokeswoman Cheryl Hackley confirmed that the FTC has received the document, but declined additional comment.
The 2011 settlement said that Facebook must obtain consumer consent before sharing information beyond the limits of its established privacy settings.
In the letter, the groups say that the proposed changes particularly regarding advertisements do just that. In fact, the groups argue, the proposed policies have strong echoes of Facebook’s now-defunct Beacon advertising program, which led to a $9.5 million settlement with users who said they were not properly notified that Facebook used data from outside Web sites to target ads on its network.
Read also:
Amid privacy flap, Facebook delays new user policy (NBCNews.com)
Privacy Groups Ask FTC to Block Facebook Policy Changes (New York Times (blog))
Privacy Groups Criticize Facebook in FTC Letter on Policies (Bloomberg)
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