07 May 2010 | Author: D. Warburton Search Copywriter
Social networking giant Facebook has faced more criticism over its latest privacy lapse, which exposed some users' private conversations to other people in their network. 15 organisations in the United States have banded together to file a complaint against the site with the Federal Trade Commission, as well as issuing a letter to Congress asking legislators to monitor the FTC's progress.
TechCrunch reported that the latest glitch occurred on Wednesday, when some users found they were able to change their profile settings in order to view their friends' private chats and pending friend requests.
A Facebook spokesperson said: "We worked quickly to resolve this matter, ensuring that once the bug was reported to us, a solution was quickly found and implemented."
But a quick fix may not be enough to tackle the larger issues of security, according to some privacy regulators who believe Facebook's continuing dominance of the social web puts users at greater risk.
Marc Rotenberg, executive director of the Electronic Privacy Information Centre, said: "Our view is that the FTC needs to act on consumer concerns about Facebook's sloppy privacy and security practices."
This privacy group was one of the companies that wrote to Congress in a letter that stated: "Facebook continues to manipulate the privacy settings of users and its own privacy policy so that it can take personal information provided by users for a limited purpose and make it widely available for commercial purposes.
"The company has done this repeatedly, and users are becoming increasingly angry and frustrated."
The social network has also been criticised for its new features, allowing third party websites to incorporate a 'Like' button so Facebook users can more easily share their tastes in everything from music to fashion with others in their social network.
Facebook's privacy headaches may be never-ending, but the company insists it treats such issues with the utmost importance. Elliot Schrage, vice president of Facebook's global communications, explained: "These new products and features are designed to enhance personalisation and promote social activity across the Internet while continuing to give users unprecedented control over what information they share, when they want to share it, and with whom."
Facebook privacy blunders to be investigated by FTC
Social networking giant Facebook has faced more criticism over its latest privacy lapse, which exposed some users' private conversations to other people in their network. 15 organisations in the United States have banded together to file a complaint against the site with the Federal Trade Commission, as well as issuing a letter to Congress asking legislators to monitor the FTC's progress.TechCrunch reported that the latest glitch occurred on Wednesday, when some users found they were able to change their profile settings in order to view their friends' private chats and pending friend requests.
A Facebook spokesperson said: "We worked quickly to resolve this matter, ensuring that once the bug was reported to us, a solution was quickly found and implemented."
But a quick fix may not be enough to tackle the larger issues of security, according to some privacy regulators who believe Facebook's continuing dominance of the social web puts users at greater risk.
Marc Rotenberg, executive director of the Electronic Privacy Information Centre, said: "Our view is that the FTC needs to act on consumer concerns about Facebook's sloppy privacy and security practices."
This privacy group was one of the companies that wrote to Congress in a letter that stated: "Facebook continues to manipulate the privacy settings of users and its own privacy policy so that it can take personal information provided by users for a limited purpose and make it widely available for commercial purposes.
"The company has done this repeatedly, and users are becoming increasingly angry and frustrated."
The social network has also been criticised for its new features, allowing third party websites to incorporate a 'Like' button so Facebook users can more easily share their tastes in everything from music to fashion with others in their social network.
Facebook's privacy headaches may be never-ending, but the company insists it treats such issues with the utmost importance. Elliot Schrage, vice president of Facebook's global communications, explained: "These new products and features are designed to enhance personalisation and promote social activity across the Internet while continuing to give users unprecedented control over what information they share, when they want to share it, and with whom."
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