Privacy Groups to FTC: MySpace and Facebook Ads Violate Privacy
Privacy groups are voicing concerns.
Two consumer advocacy groups have asked the Federal Trade Commission to investigate whether new advertising initiatives announced last week by social networking sites MySpace and Facebook adequately protect consumer privacy.
In a Nov. 12 letter to FTC Chairman Deborah Platt Majoras, the Center for Digital Democracy and the U.S. Public Interest Research Group claimed that the “ambitious new targeted advertising schemes” launched by MySpace.com and Facebook Inc. “make clear the advertising industry’s intentions to move full-speed ahead without regard to ensuring consumers are protected.”
Jeffrey Chester, founder and executive director of the Center for Digital Democracy, said that by launching the advertising plans, MySpace and Facebook are “thumbing their noses at the FTC and consumer privacy rights” by allowing marketers to customize advertisements based on data provided by users in their profiles on the social networking sites.
“MySpace and Facebook are like the digital data equivalent of Fort Knox for Madison Avenue marketers,” he said. “It is a kind of one-stop data shop for marketers. They know your interests, your politics and what movies you like. It is a much more rich array of content that marketers simply should not have automatic access to.”
Chester said that consumers must be offered a complete opt-out option, and that the social networks must fully disclose how they intend to use their personal information.