A Rhode Island lawyer has filed a class action lawsuit against Facebook over their new “Instant Personalization” program on behalf of Derrick Rose of East Providence, Rhode Island. The suit is a bit questionable as the class action published on the lawyer’s website states “Facebook is abusing personal information for private profit”, although it’s pretty clear that Facebook is not directly profiting through the Instant Personalization program.
While this may simply be an attempt/stunt by Peter Wasylyk to gain national attention, there are legitimate concerns raised in the suit which effectively turn users’ complaints over the Instant Personalization program into legalese:
The lawsuit, filed in the U.S. District Court for the District of Rhode Island, alleges that Facebook’s “Instant Personalization” feature has violated users’ privacy rights and seeks to certify a national class of Facebook users.
The suit also states that “The activation of Instant Personalization and the sharing of information about users with unrelated third party websites violated users reasonable expectations of privacy”. While I’m a little bit skeptical of how this first class action against Facebook over the program will work out, since there are significant typos (parts of sentences missing) in the release on the lawyer’s homepage, I think it’s a sufficient statement.
Peter Wasylyk, who’s representing Derrick Rose, claims that Facebook has broken the law with their new program by violating users “reasonable expectations of privacy”. I have no idea how substantial a case something like this really is, as many of the suits we’ve seen in the past, which have resulted in some form of settlement, come from large firms.
While I’m not sure how the lawyer will argue that Facebook is using the Instant Personalization program for profit, it’s no doubt interesting to see the first suit over the program. The full text of the suit is below.
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Why is it unclear how they're using for profit? FaceBook is SELLING 3rd party companies access to its' users' data!
Comment by David Farrow — June 3, 2010 @ 7:19 am
This case will never go to trial.
Like all trial lawyers who file BS-frivolous lawsuits, he just wants to pocket his % of a huge settlement.
And FB will pay just to make him go away.
Comment by Fred Goodwin — June 3, 2010 @ 7:55 am
The lawyer has an "@aol.com" email address! LOL – they sure picked an Internet savvy lawyer for this one. HA!
Comment by Justin Dean — June 3, 2010 @ 10:37 am
I'm guessing the suit will be thrown out for improper venue since Facebook has a forum clause built into its Statement of Rights and Responsibilities:
"15. Disputes: 1. You will resolve any claim, cause of action or dispute ("claim") you have with us arising out of or relating to this Statement or Facebook exclusively in a state or federal court located in Santa Clara County. The laws of the State of California will govern this Statement, as well as any claim that might arise between you and us, without regard to conflict of law provisions. You agree to submit to the personal jurisdiction of the courts located in Santa Clara County, California for the purpose of litigating all such claims."
Comment by Kara — June 7, 2010 @ 7:45 am
They broke the contract so the clause won't be valid.
They have violated the privacy of enough people that their days are numbered one way or another.
Comment by c b — June 30, 2010 @ 2:41 pm
I want in on this. I closed my Facebook account because I think it's stupid and intrusive. Obviously they didn't because I'm still getting invites and other you-know-what from those idiots.
Comment by Kay — September 9, 2010 @ 5:11 pm