Facebook Privacy Suit Seeks $15 Billion

An anonymous reader writes "The folks at Facebook may be focusing on their IPO today, but a complaint filed in federal court has given them something else to think about. The filing consolidates 21 separate but similar cases and alleges Facebook invaded users privacy by tracking their browsing behavior even after they had logged out of the site. The claim seeks $15 billion in damages. 'If the claimants are successful in their case against Facebook, they could prevent Menlo Park from collecting the huge amount of data it collects about its users to serve ads back to them. Like the previous lawsuits, Facebook is once again being accused of violating the Federal Wiretap Act, which provides statutory damages per user of $100 per day per violation, up to a maximum per user of $10,000. The complaint also asserts claims under the Computer Fraud and Abuse Act, the Stored Communications Act, various California Statutes and California common law.'"

Comments

Re:Lawsuits for everyone.

[BitterOak]

Even if you don't sign up to Facebook, they are tracking you because of their little F icon and/or scripts/cookies are being loaded up by your web browser on any webpage you are visiting.

Nobody says you have to click the little F icon!

Really. Facebook is offering a free service here. No one is forcing you to sign up, and even if you do sign up, no one is forcing you to reveal personal details. If they can be charged under the federal wiretap statute, then really no website that uses cookies is safe. The best solution is just to not use Facebook, rather than ask the government to twist the law to fit what Facebook is doing.