US/EU Consumer Advocates Demand Strong Rules to Protect Privacy and Security of Social Network Users

Millions of social network users are being exposed to privacy risks and lack adequate control over their personal information, according to the Trans Atlantic Consumer Dialogue (TACD), a coalition of U.S. and European consumer advocacy groups. The TACD has adopted a new resolution criticizing the U.S. and European governments for failing to protect social network users from privacy and marketing abuses. “Social networks are like virtual homes for millions of people, but they are being invaded by data miners and marketers seeking to capitalize on information that users never intended to provide to strangers,” said Susan Grant, Director of Consumer Protection at Consumer Federation of America (CFA) and co-chair of the TACD Information Society Policy Committee.

For example, the Electronic Privacy Information Center, CFA, the Center for Digital Democracy, U.S. Public Interest Research Group, and several other groups filed a complaint with the U.S. Federal Trade Commission on May 5 contending that recent changes to Facebook’s policies reclassify user information that was previously protected, such as lists of friends, employment information, gender, geographic region, and film and literary preferences, as “publicly available.” Furthermore, the groups expressed concern about Facebook’s “instant personalization” feature and asserted that it is becoming increasingly difficult for Facebook users to exercise meaningful control over their data.

In July 2009 the Federation of German Consumer Organisations (Verbraucherzentrale Bundesverband, or VZBV) urged Facebook, MySpace and three other social networking sites to sign a cease-and-desist-letter regarding violations of German consumer law in their terms of service and privacy policies. Facebook made minor changes but still fails to comply with the standards set by the U.S.-EU Safe Harbor agreement for data use or, for that matter, with German law, said VZBV. Safe Harbor is an agreement between the U.S. and the European Commission which enables U.S. companies that self-certify that they meet the European adequacy standards for privacy protection to transfer the personal data of European residents.

"It’s hard to believe that it is just sloppiness – we have come to the conclusion that Facebook is deliberately violating data protection and consumer protection standards," said Falk Lüke Policy Officer, Consumer Rights in the Digital World at VZBV and co-chair of the TACD Information Society Policy Committee. His group plans to take further action against the company to enforce German consumers’ rights under its higher standards of consumer protection. Of the Safe Harbor agreement, Mr. Lüke said “It’s more like the Somalian coast than a safe harbor for consumers’ personal information.”

The TACD resolution urges the U.S. and EU governments to enact and enforce laws that would, among other things:
•    Forbid making access and use of consumers’ data a condition for using social network sites;
•    Prohibit users’ data from being collected and used for marketing purposes without express opt-in consent;
•    Require social networks to protect users’ data from unauthorized use and third party access;
•    Require social networks to inform users about the need to protect their personal data and the measures that they can take to do so;
•    Hold social networks liable if third parties wrongfully access or abuse users’ data;
•    Limit the personally identifiable information available to application providers to only what is needed for the applications;
•    Require social networks to ensure that no personally identifiable information is obtained by third party services without the users’ permission;
•    Require social networks to honor users’ requests to delete or correct their information;
•    Ensure that consumers can freely move their photographs and other data from one social network to another.

TACD members are especially concerned about young people who use social network sites. The resolution calls for the U.S. and EU governments to prohibit social networks from targeting advertisements to children under 16 and to bar them from using online marketing practices that studies show can have a negative impact on individuals, particularly children – for instance, digital marketing of products that contribute to childhood obesity.

For the full resolution go to:
 Resolution on Social Networking

Previous TACD resolutions about the Safe Harbor agreement are at:  
SAFE HARBOR
Implementation of the Safe Harbor Agreement

Contacts:

Falk Lüke:  +49 30 25800 126
Susan Grant: +1 202 387 6121

About TACD

TACD is a forum of US and EU consumer organisations which develops and agrees on joint consumer policy recommendations to the US government and European Union to promote the consumer interest in EU and US policy making. For more information, please visit www.tacd.org.