Canadians Declare War on Facebook
Remember how Facebook unilaterally appropriated private friend lists and profile photos several months ago? A new class-action suit says that action violated Canadian privacy and consumer protection laws, and demands a cut of Facebook's ill-gotten revenues. Nice, ay?
A Québécois named Patrice St-Arnauld is leading the claim, which demands unspecified monetary damages from the fast-growing social network. Other claims are active in Toronto and Winnipeg, according to Courthouse News Service. Meanwhile, here in the U.S., there's anticipation the Federal Trade Commission might finally hold the company accountable for the apparently illegal manner in which Facebook rolled out its recent privacy changes. And, of course, American courts have their own class-action suits under way against the company. There's a lesson here for would-be Facebook employees: Try the legal department, they're almost definitely hiring.
Below are selected pages from the suit. The first three contain allegations about Facebook's activity, and the second two cite specific violations of Canadian law. (Click each page to enlarge.) You can find the entire filing here (PDF).
[Photo of Facebook CEO Mark Zuckerberg via AP]