The Drum Awards for Marketing - Extended Deadline

-d -h -min -sec

Facebook's new tracking ploy 'deeply alarms' consumer organisations; they want the FTC to step in

Author

By Noel Young | Correspondent

July 30, 2014 | 3 min read

Facebook is in more hot water after beginning to monitor the Web habits of its users following a 12 June announcement.

Challenge to Facebook

Two major non-governmental organisations want the US to investigate if the social network tracking users’ Web browsing activities breaks an earlier agreement with the government to ensure people’s privacy.

A letter sent to the Federal Trade Commission by Kostas Rossoglou, senior legal officer of the European Consumer Organization and Jeffrey Chester, executive director of the Center for Digital Democracy said bluntly: “We are writing to express deep alarm.”

The two organizations, joined in a grouping they call the Trans Atlantic Consumer Dialogue, asked the FTC to probe Facebook’s practices.

Facebook said it is trying to deliver more targeted advertising by viewing what users do on sites other than Facebook.

Jodi Seth, a spokeswoman for Facebook insisted they’re in the clear. He said users can choose not to receive advertising that’s based on the websites they visit and apps they use.

“The level of control people have over advertising on Facebook exceeds industry standards,” he said in an email, Bloomberg reports.

Facebook in late 2011 agreed to settle complaints by the FTC that it failed to protect subscribers’ privacy or disclose how their data could be used. A 20-year agreement requires the company to get clear consent from users before sharing material posted under earlier, more restrictive terms.

If the FTC finds Facebook has violated the agreement, the privacy groups want the agency to compel the company to stop the tracking.

In its letter yesterday to FTC Chairwoman Edith Ramirez, the group points out that Facbook already installs cookies and pixel tags on users’ computers to track browsing activity on Facebook.com and Facebook apps.

“If Facebook is permitted to expand its data collection practices, those cookies and pixel tags will also track users’ browsing activity on any website that includes a few lines of Facebook code.

The TACD wants the FTC to “investigate and take regulatory action … to address new threats to consumer privacy from the growth of real-time tracking and sales of information about individuals online activities.

“We urge you to act immediately to notify the company that it must suspend its proposed change in business practices to determine whether it complies with current U.S. and EU law."

And the TACD wants this all out in the open, “We ask you to publish your findings so that your investigations can be subject to a public assessment and review .”

Facebook’s proposed data collection expansion “directly contradicts its previous statements,” it said.

Trending

Industry insights

View all
Add your own content +