Facebook Inc. (NASDAQ:FB) has successfully reprieved itself from allegations of wiretapping that included class action lawsuits, as well. Zynga has also joined Facebook in this accusation removal. The Ninth Circuit Court of Appeals ruled that Facebook’s advertising practices did not involve wiretapping.
However, Facebook cannot rest on its laurels, just yet. The court did reinstate allegations that Facebook has, in fact, violated its own terms of service. This current case shows that both Facebook and Zynga are accused of sharing user data with advertisers without explicit permission from users. The information sharing occurred when users clicked on advertisements while playing Zynga games on Facebook. From that point, Facebook page addresses and Facebook ID’s were compiled and given to advertisers.
Although both companies have yet to hear the final ruling declaring them either guilty or innocent, under the Electronic Communications Privacy Act (ECPA), which makes it illegal to disclose the particular contents of a communication, neither company faces a violation for that particular instance.
Moreover, the court decision reads, “We have consolidated these cases for this opinion and conclude that the plaintiffs in both cases have failed to state a claim because they did not allege that either Facebook or Zynga disclosed the ‘contents’ of a communication, a necessary element of their ECPA claims. The referrer header information that Facebook and Zynga transmitted to third parties included the user’s Facebook ID and the address of the webpage from which the user’s HTTP request to view another webpage was sent. This information does not meet the definition of ‘contents,’ because these pieces of information are not the ‘substance, purport, or meaning’ of a communication.”
This decision was similar to one made in 2011 by Judge James Ware in California. He tossed out another accusation of wiretapping. Nonetheless, the FTC plans to keep a close eye on Facebook for the next couple of decades.
