Facebook Disadvantages

Canadian Internet Policy and Public Interest Clinic Clinique d’intérêt public et de politique d’internet du Canada
Philippa Lawson Director
(613) 562-5800 x2556 plawson@uottawa.ca

May 30, 2008 Privacy Commissioner of Canada 112 Kent Street Ottawa, Ontario K1A 1H3 Dear Commissioner Stoddart: Re: PIPEDA Complaint: Facebook This is a complaint under s.11 of Part I of the Personal Information Protection and Electronic Documents Act (PIPEDA) regarding the unnecessary and non-consensual collection and use of personal information by Facebook, a social networking website. We submit that Facebook is violating Principles 4.1, 4.2, 4.3, 4.4, 4.5, 4.7, and 4.8 of PIPEDA, Schedule 1 by failing to: • • • • • • • • • • Identify all the purposes for which it collects Users’ personal information (Principle 4.2); Obtain informed consent from Users and non-Users to all uses and disclosures of their personal information (Principle 4.3); Allow Users to use its service without consenting to supply unnecessary personal information (Principle 4.3.3); Obtain express consent to share Users’ sensitive information (Principle 4.3.6); Allow Users who have deactivated their accounts to easily withdraw consent to share information (Principle 4.3.8); Limit the collection of personal information to that which is necessary for its stated purposes (Principle 4.4); Be upfront about its advertisers’ use of personal information and the level of Users’ control over their privacy settings (Principle 4.4.2); Destroy personal information of Users who terminate their use of Facebook services (Principle 4.5); Safeguard Users’ personal information from unauthorized access (Principle 4.7); and Explain policies and procedures on the range of personal information that is disclosed to third party advertisers and application developers (Principle 4.8).

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Statement of Facts
Background Facebook, launched in February of 2004 by founder Mark Zuckerberg, is an online social networking company headquartered... [continues]

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