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FACEBOOK VIOLATES PRIVACY LAW: WATCHDOG

Posted on July 16, 2009

      Canada's privacy watchdog says Internet phenomenon Facebook breaches the law by keeping users' personal information indefinitely - even after members close their accounts. Privacy Commissioner Jennifer Stoddart says the popular social networking site should hang on to the data only for as long as truly necessary.

      In a report Thursday, Stoddart urged Facebook to remedy the problem, one of several serious privacy shortfalls she discovered. Facebook, which has nearly 12 million Canadian users, allows people to keep in touch with friends and family by updating their personal pages with fresh messages and photos.

      Stoddart said although Facebook provides information about its privacy practices, it is often confusing or incomplete. "It's clear that privacy issues are top of mind for Facebook, and yet we found serious privacy gaps in the way the site operates," Stoddart said in a statement.

      For example, the "account settings" page describes how to deactivate accounts but not how to delete them, which actually removes personal data from Facebook's computer servers. Stoddart wants Facebook to wipe the information in deactivated accounts after a reasonable length of time.

      The report also raises concerns about the sharing of users' personal information with the almost one million third-party developers around the globe who create Facebook applications such as games and quizzes. Facebook lacks proper safeguards to prevent these developers from seeing users' profile information, the investigation found.

      Stoddart calls for more transparency to ensure the site's Canadian users have knowledge they need to make meaningful decisions about how widely they share personal information. The privacy commissioner will review Facebook's actions after 30 days to gauge progress. She can take the case to the Federal Court of Canada to have her recommendations enforced.

      She launched a probe of Facebook in response to a complaint last year from the Canadian Internet Policy and Public Interest Clinic. The clinic, based at the University of Ottawa's law faculty, alleged numerous violations by the high-profile site.

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