Privacy Groups Target Facebook

The Electronic Privacy Information Center and nine other privacy and consumer groups filed a complaint with the Federal Trade Commission urging the agency to open an investigation against Facebook, saying its new privacy settings violate consumer protection law. Facebook last week formally rolled out what it described as "easy-to-use" tools to help users gain better control of content on their Facebook pages and allow users to control who sees each piece of content they add. EPIC, joined by the Consumer Federation of America, Privacy Rights Clearinghouse and others, claimed the changes Facebook made such as requiring users to go through a "transition tool" before accessing their account allow for far more user information to become publicly available, including to third-party application developers. Facebook issued a statement defending its privacy tools.