Privacy groups request FTC to block Facebook's proposed policy changes

A coalition of six privacy groups in the US have requested the Federal Trade Commission to put up a roadblock for Facebook’s upcoming changes to its privacy policies, which they believe will make it easier for the social networking website to advertise using information from users, which includes those of children below the age of 18.

According to a report by The New York Times, a letter was sent by this coalition of privacy groups to the FTC on Wednesday, that said that this change violated an order and settlement struck in 2011 with the FTC regarding user privacy.

Facebook in August announced that it was proposing changes to its Data Use Policy and Statement of Rights and Responsibilities. The social networking website suggested a controversial change to the governing documents that affected privacy on the website; the proposal suggested that profile pictures posted by users be a part of the facial recognition database.

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Earlier this week, Facebook made a revision to its proposed Statement of Rights and responsibilities that made it amply clear that by joining the site, users “permit a business or other entity to pay us to display your name and/or profile picture with your content or information, without any compensation to you.” This is a major change if you consider that the original Statement said that people could choose their privacy setting “to limit how your name and profile picture may be associated with commercial, sponsored, or related content (such as a brand you like) served or enhanced by us.”

Essentially, if these proposed changes came into being, whether or not you want it or like it, businesses can pay Facebook to use your name and profile picture in ads without shelling out any money to you. These changes are being proposed not long after a US District Court approved of a privacy settlement of $20 million over a lawsuit regarding targeted advertising.

A class action lawsuit filed in 2011 against Facebook said that the site’s “sponsored stories” contained their names and likeness without their consent. Another issue raised by these changes is of privacy related to children under the age of 18 on the website. According to Facebook’s new policy, if you’re under 18 and on the social networking website, “you represent that at least one of your parents or legal guardians has also agreed to the terms of this section (and the use of your name, profile picture, content, and information) on your behalf.” The group is now urging the FTC to take action. Marc Rotenberg, Executive Director of the Electronic Privacy Information Center, one of the groups that wrote the letter, says that courts and regulators have found that personal information of children should receive special privacy protection.

Facebook, on its part says that the changes being made were partly to clarify what the site does with user information. This comes as a part of the class-action settlement. “As part of this proposed update, we revised our explanation of how things like your name, profile picture and content may be used in connection with ads or commercial content to make it clear that you are granting Facebook permission for this use when you use our services,” Debbie Frost, Spokesperson for Facebook said in a statement on Wednesday. “We have not changed our ads practices or policies — we only made things clearer for people who use our service.”

While the FTC has not confirmed receiving a letter of this sort, it will surely be paying keen attention to requests made by these privacy groups against Facebook. The social networking website could potentially be staring at another long haul in the courts over privacy.