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Facebook Sued for Scanning Private User Messages

posted by cmn32480 on Tuesday May 24 2016, @10:29AM   Printer-friendly
from the no-big-shock dept.

MrPlow writes:

Submitted via IRC for TheMightyBuzzard

A California man is suing Facebook for allegedly scanning the content of private messages sent between users of the site.

The suit alleges that Facebook scans the messages in search of hyperlinks sent between users. "If there is a link to a web page contained in that message, Facebook treats it as a 'like' of the page, and increases the page's 'like,' counter by one," the suit contends. The site tracks when users "like" pages in order to compile individual profiles that allow third parties to send targeted advertisements.

Source: http://www.washingtonexaminer.com/facebook-sued-for-scanning-private-user-messages/article/2591806

Original Submission

 
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  • (Score: 2, Insightful) by Lester on Tuesday May 24 2016, @03:25PM

    by Lester (6231) on Tuesday May 24 2016, @03:25PM (#350335) Journal

    No, there won't be any legal consequences. Nevertheless such corporations are more afraid of bad publicity than of courts. So, it's not that bad movement.

    I would like to see in facebook, google, etc a title in the top (font size 24px) saying:

    "We analyze everything (interests, friends, webs visited...) to learn everything about you for advertising and, later, we sell everything we know about you (more than you know about your self) to other companies"

    It would be real fair play with consumer. Not burying that fact in a 800 pages "privacy policy" document.

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  • (Score: 1) by tractatus_techno_philosophicus on Tuesday May 24 2016, @08:42PM

    by tractatus_techno_philosophicus (6130) on Tuesday May 24 2016, @08:42PM (#350474)

    I second that motion. As every pack of cigarettes (here in the United States) requires the surgeon general's warning, it'd be nice to see something similar on massive, data-gathering websites. If mental health and physical health are completely intertwined (and that seems incontestable at this point), why not take digital health into consideration? It would be hard to argue that it isn't just as intertwined with every other facet of most people's being in 2016.

    --
    No moral system can rest solely on authority. ~A.J. Ayer