Social network companies fight tough new privacy law in California
Privacy is becoming a big issue in the social media business and if this new law with its $10,000 fines takes effect in California you can can look for changes elsewhere, too
The proposal insists that social-networking sites allow users to establish their privacy settings - who can view their profile, what information would be public to all - when they register to join the site instead of after they join.
Sites would also have to set defaults to private so that users would choose which information is public. At the moment, Facebook, for example, has default settings that make certain information - photos, biographical information and family information - available to everyone on the Internet after you register, unless you change those privacy settings.
Facebook itself has not come out and said openly that it is opposed to the bill.
But the bill's author, Senator Ellen Corbett, a Democrate, told the San Francisco Chronicle , the social-networking giant has worked in "stealth mode" to oppose it.
The law would require privacy controls to be explained in "plain language." Deliberately breaking the law would cost a $10,000 fine for each violation. "You shouldn't have to sign in and give up your personal information before you get to the part where you say, 'Please don't share my personal information,' " Corbett said. The bill also would require a social-networking site to remove personally identifying information of a user if requested and by the request of a parent of a user under 18. Online companies claim the bill is unconstitutional and unworkable . The bill is now headed for the state Senate floor, where it will face "an intense assault from the industry" according to the Chronicle. Tammy Cota , executive director of the Internet Alliance trade association which includes Google, eHarmony, Match.com, and Facebook , leads the critics. Cota wrote in a letter to the Senate Judiciary Committee, which approved the measure," The bill will force users to make decisions about privacy and visibility of all information well before they even used the service for the first time, and in such a manner that they are less likely to pay attention and process the information."