It was just yesterday that we discussed about Twitter overtaking Whisper Systems for making Twitter more secure. The step was most probably a result of the fact that they were pulled up by the FTC for lack of adequate security as a result of which hackers were able to gain admin control and access personal user information, the lawsuit was settled in 2010.
Reuters today reported that Facebook has also similarly settled a privacy lawsuit against them as well by the FTC. Whereas Twitters was a case of lapse in security Facebook was accused of being deceptive and sharing personal user’s data, which we all know is true.
In case facebook is found guilty of the charge it will be fined $16,000 per day. Jon Leibowitz, Chairman of FTC was quoted as saying that, “innovation at Facebook does not have to come at the cost consumer privacy”. He also adds that the fine in no way will have an impact on the ability of Facebook to innovate.
Under the settlement agreement Facebook will be barred from being deceptive on how it uses users personal data. And at the same time they must have express consent from the users before they make any changes in how their personal data is shared in Facebook.
