Facebook facing class-action lawsuit for ‘invasive scanning’ of private messages - Polidicks

[QUOTE]FACEBOOK could be forced to pay users up to $US10,000 ($A12,300) each for violating their privacy if a new lawsuit is successful. A judge in the US District Court ruled on Wednesday that a class-action suit against the social media giant can proceed. According to the lawsuit, originally filed in December 2013, Facebook scanned the content of users’ private messages for advertising purposes, violating the Electronic Communications Privacy Act and California’s privacy and unfair competition laws. Whenever users included links to third-party websites in messages, Facebook would follow the link and search for information to profile the sender’s browsing activity, it was alleged.[/QUOTE] [url]http://www.news.com.au/technology/online/facebook-facing-class-action-lawsuit-for-invasive-scanning-of-private-messages/story-fnjwnhzf-1227167131522[/url]

Where do I apply for this compensation.

glorious

i demand facebook to pay me 10 grand for reading my pictures of anime bullshit through facebook messages.

Will it work in canada?

[QUOTE=DELL;46796642]Will it work in canada?[/QUOTE] US lawsuit involving US laws so probably not.

All 1.23 billion users?

[QUOTE=Wii60;46796650]US lawsuit involving US laws so probably not.[/QUOTE] damn

boy I regret not having a facebook account now :v:

For 10 grand, im fine with fb looking through my messages.

Wouldn't this be something you agree to under their ToS when you sign up?

It's obvious this can't go through as is, including the enforced payment. If FB had to shell out 10 grand even for just all USA users, they would go under immediately. Doubly so when they couldn't rake in the advertising spycash anymore.

[QUOTE=wh1t3rabbit;46796767]Wouldn't this be something you agree to under their ToS when you sign up?[/QUOTE] i signed up in 2009/2010 when this type of stuff wasn't happening at all. not alot the ToS can do for this.

[QUOTE=Awesomecaek;46796769]It's obvious this can't go through as is, including the enforced payment. If FB had to shell out 10 grand even for just all USA users, they would go under immediately. Doubly so when they couldn't rake in the advertising spycash anymore.[/QUOTE] That is generally how it works - ask for an incredibly high amount, settle for a lesser. Also depends how many people jump on the lawsuit, same reason you here about million dollar lawsuits that only pay out a few bucks to hundreds of thousands of people.

Should I reactivate my facebook then?

How likely is it that 10k will actually be paid to each user? Realistically, wouldn't it end up being like 5-10 dollars in Facebook credit or whatever?

I'll settle for a bottle of coke and a pack of used condoms, thanks.

This is absurd. If FB had to pay 10 grand to each user, they could face maximum 1.3 trillion dollars fine out of this suit(~130 million active US users times 10,000$/user, am I correct?) The only reason why I wouldn't want this to go through is that Oculus is owned by FB now.

a friend and me have said some pretty weird shit to each other over the years, if they give up my messages i'm worried about going to jail more than anything

I randomly received a lawsuit check for $50 from Publix about a lawsuit that I didn't have any idea about. So, I wouldn't be surprised if a few "high profile" users received some of that money.

So how do I apply?

Doesn't google do the same with emails?

[QUOTE=Medevila;46796795]if ToS were end-all legally binding documents corporations would get away with anything [editline]26th December 2014[/editline] and you'd probably have to agree to one to eat at McDonalds or something[/QUOTE] All EULA/ToS clauses for electronic services "really" do is enable a company to end service to you if you're found in violation of it. Even if it had some absurd clause in it like, "You agree to surrender your first born son unto us," you could still refuse and the highest penalty would be the cancellation of your service. Even then it's highly suspect because these are non-negotiable contracts which often contain contradictory or outright unenforcable clauses. Some have suggested that in order to comply with Apple's satanically long, misspelled, and poorly written ToS, you would flatly have to not use anything by Apple at all. Very few if any EULA/ToS forms get brought to court, and the track record for them so far shows they're exceptionally weak. If it weren't for the fact that they're just "what is done" as a legal formality they probably wouldn't even exist. So when a company violates your privacy under their vaguely worded Terms of Service, you actually do have an actionable court case. Particularly if you can demonstrate damages.

[QUOTE=wh1t3rabbit;46796767]Wouldn't this be something you agree to under their ToS when you sign up?[/QUOTE] You're using their service to transmit and store this information. I feel like it's rather implied that they'll have access to it.

[QUOTE=Crazy Ivan;46798033]All EULA/ToS clauses for electronic services "really" do is enable a company to end service to you if you're found in violation of it. Even if it had some absurd clause in it like, "You agree to surrender your first born son unto us," you could still refuse and the highest penalty would be the cancellation of your service. Even then it's highly suspect because these are non-negotiable contracts which often contain contradictory or outright unenforcable clauses. Some have suggested that in order to comply with Apple's satanically long, misspelled, and poorly written ToS, you would flatly have to not use anything by Apple at all. Very few if any EULA/ToS forms get brought to court, and the track record for them so far shows they're exceptionally weak. If it weren't for the fact that they're just "what is done" as a legal formality they probably wouldn't even exist. So when a company violates your privacy under their vaguely worded Terms of Service, you actually do have an actionable court case. Particularly if you can demonstrate damages.[/QUOTE] Demonstrating damages will be the key part of this lawsuit. If Facebook scanned your messages and found out about your surprise birthday party, you won't get shit.

So that's where all the anime bullshit on the side of the page was coming from before I put adblock on.

[QUOTE=Svinnik;46797624]How likely is it that 10k will actually be paid to each user? Realistically, wouldn't it end up being like 5-10 dollars in Facebook credit or whatever?[/QUOTE] 100% unlikely

I'm not seeing how what Facebook does is substantially different from how Google scans your emails for targeted advertising keywords, or how the ECPA is at all relevant since it protects against unauthorized government wiretaps.

[QUOTE=catbarf;46799010]I'm not seeing how what Facebook does is substantially different from how Google scans your emails for targeted advertising keywords, or how the ECPA is at all relevant since it protects against unauthorized government wiretaps.[/QUOTE] Google just pays the settlement IIRC. They have so much wealth its cheaper just to pay out than to fight it

RIP Facebook Everyone start moving over to Ello. [sp]jk[/sp]