The proposed Facebook policy that would allow product or store ads to make use of your picture without your knowledge has been opposed by privacy groups.
Six public interests groups Executives have jointly wrote a letter on Wednesday to Federal Trade Commission asking the agency to stop the Facebook’s new privacy and data use policies.
“Facebook users who reasonably believed that their images and content would not be used for commercial purposes without their consent will now find their pictures showing up on the pages of their friends endorsing the products of Facebook’s advertisers,” said the letter. “Remarkably, their images could even be used by Facebook to endorse products that the user does not like or even use.”
Last week Facebook’s new proposed policy was announced in the wake of a $20 million settlement of a class action suit about its privacy rules.
The new rules “while not incorporating all features that some of the objectors might prefer, has significant value and provides benefits that likely could not be obtained outside the context of a negotiated settlement,” wrote Judge Richard Seeborg in his order approving the court settlement.
The executive director for the Center for Digital Democracy and one of the signers of the letter, Jeffrey Chester said the new policy opens the door for even greater user of user’s data
Margo Kelly, one of the Facebook users posting a comment wrote, “Send me ads, fine. Use my photos or posts in ads, I’m out of here”
The groups whose executives signed the letter include the Electronic Privacy Information Center, the Center for Digital Democracy, the U.S. Public Interest Research Group and the Privacy Rights Clearinghouse.
