Facebook User Tracking Prompts $15B Privacy Lawsuit

Just as its shares are hitting the stock market for the very first time, Facebook has been hit with a massive $15 billion lawsuit. The suit was recently filed in California by law firm Stewarts Law US.

It's a class action suit that pools a total of 21 different suits from across the United States, and involves the way the company, newly valued at more than $100 billion, tracks its members after they've logged out of their accounts.

Federal, State Privacy Acts Allegedly Violated

The $15 billion request for damages and penalties is based on provisions in the federal Wiretap Act which say that companies that violate privacy law should be charged $100 per day per violation, for every affected user.

The lawsuit also alleges numerous violations of the Computer Fraud and Abuse Act, the Stored Communications Act, and several different California statutes.

Fundamentally, the case revolves around accusations that Facebook tracks its users even after they have left the company's website and subsequently browse to other Internet locations.

Many believe that such tracking is used by Facebook to tailor the advertising individually shown to each of its members. (Source: telegraph.co.uk)

Stock Market Debut Creates New Pressures

With Facebook now a publicly traded company, pressure on the firm to convert its runaway popularity into an advertising fortune is bound to increase.

At the same time, it's likely that consumers and privacy watchdog organizations will be looking at the company's business practices with much more scrutiny than ever before.

As extreme as the $15 billion figure sounds, those responsible for the class action suit say they're hoping to expand the number of plaintiffs and the total value of the legal action by including Facebook members based outside the United States.

If they're successful at increasing the number of plaintiffs, it's possible the potential award could grow to more than $20 billion.

Stewarts Law partner David Straite says he believes the case could have a huge impact on the direction of social media-based advertising.

"This is not just a damages action, but a groundbreaking digital privacy rights case that could have wide and significant legal and business implications," Straite said. (Source: eweek.com)