Facebook sued for allegedly scanning your private messages

Summary: A class-action suit claims that the social networking site monitors and uses your messages for advertising purposes.

The class-action lawsuit, submitted by Arkansas lawyer Matt Campbell and Michael Hurley from Oregon on Monday at the U.S. District Court for the Northern District of California, says that the social networking giant monitors users' private messages in order to compile and mine data which can be used to profile web activity. This data can then allegedly be used for profit through sales to marketers and advertisers --who then can target ads based on the user's online behavior.

True. But fb tells you all of that in the fine print. Don't like it? Don't use their product. But you shouldn't sue them over it. Just a partial quote from their "privacy" policy: "So we can show you content that you may find interesting, we may use all of the information we receive about you to serve ads that are more relevant to you. For example, this includes: ◾information you provide at registration or add to your account or timeline, ◾things you share and do on Facebook, such as what you like, and your interactions with advertisements, partners, or apps, ◾keywords from your stories, and ◾things we infer from your use of Facebook. For many ads we serve, advertisers may choose their audience by location, demographics, likes, keywords, and any other information we receive or infer about users. Here are some of the ways advertisers may target relevant ads: ◾demographics and interests: for example, 18 to 35 year-old women who live in the United States and like basketball; ◾topics or keywords: for example, “music” or people who like a particular song or artist; ◾Page likes (including topics such as products, brands, religion, health status, or political views): for example, if you like a Page about Gluten-free food, you may receive ads about relevant food products;" And yadayada... Just unsubscribe or don't post. Ez Pz.

Where in that text does it indicate they will look at private messages?

I shut down my fb more than a year ago, so for me it is a non-issue.

I believe in a court, a reasonable person would presume the company is within its rights to gear advertising toward public displays, but private messages ought to remain private.

This would be akin to the Postal Service opening your mail to help bulk mailers determine what kind of junk advertising to send you.

You must deliberately LOG OUT of Facebook before other net surfing or else they have been collecting data about your net surfing habits the whole time your account was open —for many that is weeks or months.

The CEO betrayed his college buddy, biz partners and for tax reasons married his wife literally the day after FB went public:

What would he do to YOU, then?

>> Your private messages are also monitored here on FR.

That’s why I never ever write anything here (public or private) that I wouldn’t want my mother (may GOD rest her soul) to read.

Well, okay, I *seldom* write...

Well, okay, *some*... er, make that *a few* messages would be OK for Mom to see.

But hey, at least Jim and the admin mods don’t try to sell me anything with my FReepmails and posts.

What they are saying is that anything you do on fb they can use. That includes private messages, I suppose.

I’m with you...I closed my account and just don’t bother. The wife has one for family doings but she is constantly re-working her privacy settings. She posts NO personal info and has faked what she does supply.

Never have understood these folks with so much trust as to use their real personal info on such an intrusive site.

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