Justin Sullivan/Getty Images
Matthew Campbell and Michael Hurley are suing Facebook, claiming that it used their private messages for third-party advertising.
They didn’t “Like” the way Facebook used their information — and now they want to get paid.
Two California men are suing the ubiquitous social media site, claiming that their private messages were sold to third parties without their knowledge.
RELATED: MICHAEL BLOOMBERG, MARK ZUCKERBERG, PHILIP KNIGHT MOST GENEROUS 2013 DONORS: REPORT
Matthew Campbell and Michael Hurley filed the motion earlier this week and are pushing for the legal action to be expanded into a class action lawsuit that could include all of Facebook’s 166 million users, CNN reported.
The two alledge that the social media website engaged in the practice of invasive scanning. The information harvesting occurs when a user enters a URL into a private message, which is valuable when trying to make money off of targeted advertising.
RELATED: VIDEO: FACEBOOK POST INCITES FLASH MOB AT MALL
Facebook’s surreptitious scanning “is a mechanism for Facebook to surreptitiously gather data in an effort to improve its marketing algorithms and increase its ability to profit from data about Facebook users,” according to the complaint, filed in Dec. 30.
The plaintiffs claim that Facebook violated the Electronic Communications Privacy Act and California statutes that regulate competition and privacy.
RELATED: SELFIE SAVES BATTERED KY. WOMAN SEEKING HELP
Campbell and Hurley are attempting to bar Facebook from invasive scanning and be awarded as much as $ 10,000 for each user impacted.
Facebook spokeswoman Jackie Rooney said the tech behemoth regards the allegations as “without merit.”
With News Wire Services
Follow me on Twitter: @IrvingDeJohn
http://newyork.greatlocalnews.info/?p=20077
via Great Local News: New York http://newyork.greatlocalnews.info
No comments:
Post a Comment