NEWS ALERTS - Breaking News Alerts from Identity Theft 911

Facebook Settles 'Sponsored Story' Privacy Suit

Lawyers accept social network's $10 million settlement

Friday, June 22, 2012
ebook Settles 'Sponsored Story' Privacy SuitA lawsuit filed in April 2011 against the world's most popular social network over its plans to begin rolling out a new ad program has been settled out of court.

Facebook recently wrapped a case brought over its Sponsored Story program, which would allow users who "Like" advertisers to use that person's profile and photos to appear in ads on friends' feeds, according to a report from Wired. The settlement allows Facebook users to "limit" but not eliminate use of their information in this way, as well as donating $10 million to charity and paying another $10 million in fees to the lawyers who brought the case.

The company claims that its settlement will cost it some $103 million in ad revenues over two years, but it does not compensate users in any way, the report said.

Eduard Goodman, the chief privacy officer for Identity Theft 911, writes regularly on his official blog about the issues social networking users face when they put their personal information onto these sites.

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