When Facebook changes its design, it inevitably leads to cries from its users, normally along the lines of “How dare you drastically change your product on us, especially when you’re changing it to something we don’t like!” What these users fail to realize is that, in this free service that they’re using, the site itself isn’t the product—they are. And this is why Facebook is growing more and more aggressive in its mining and storage of user data.
Facebook’s less-than-transparent privacy practices, specifically, failing to live up to representations made to consumers regarding those privacy practices, drew the attention of the Federal Trade Commission and recently led to a non-monetary settlement between Facebook and the FTC. To break down that settlement, we bring in Cynthia Larose, author on Privacy & Security Matters and attorney at Mintz Levin.