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Facebook Sued Over Data Access

Posted by Soulskill on from the your-information-wants-to-be-free-but-not-ours dept.

Late last year, a web service called Power.com launched with the aim of allowing users to unify their use of multiple social networks. Facebook quickly filed a lawsuit, objecting to the (user-authorized) gathering of their data. Reader sufijazz writes with news that Power.com has now countersued Facebook, saying, "Facebook improperly restricts its users' access to their private information," and that Facebook's own data scraping makes their lawsuit an attempt to stifle competition. According to TechCrunch, "Facebook can point to its efforts with Facebook Connect, which lets you log in with your Facebook username at third party sites and import some select data from your profile, as evidence of its openness. But this isn't true data portability, it's just a new walled garden — third parties are generally only allowed to cache your data, which means that you're still tethered to Facebook."

3 of 73 comments (clear)

  1. Re:Well by maharb · · Score: 5, Insightful

    I think this has more to do with you wanting to move your data, not them just handing it out. There is a huge difference.

    This example is more related to you going to a hospital and requesting your health records be transferred to another hospital and they say no. Don't get it confused with privacy/security.

  2. social network of social networks by e**(i+pi)-1 · · Score: 5, Funny

    Maybe social networks need to become "friends" first to allow mutual aggregation of customers ...

  3. This is handwaving by mysidia · · Score: 5, Insightful

    "Facebook improperly restricts its users' access to their private information,"

    Huh, what? You entered the data in your profile. Naturally, you have the data, at least, if you chose to keep a copy of it.

    Facebook.com's terms of service don't contain any clause or term of use where they guarantee they will provide you any data you have entered for free access by any third party application or service.

    This is as if you published a book on an online website, and a third-party decides to sue the website, because you signed up with a third-party, giving the third-party permission to reprint, but your book-publishing website chooses not to cooperate.

    Just because the information is yours, doesn't mean you have a right to authorize someone to scrape it from an online service you have posted it to. That online service has an interest and a right to control the terms and conditions under which their servers may be accessed.