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National Justice Network Update
February 2010
Volume 17, Issue 2
SOCIAL NETWORKING SITES COME UNDER FIRE
Online giant Google has been hit with heavy criticism following the launch of their new social networking service Buzz. The Electronic Privacy Information Centre (EPIC) filed a complaint with the US Federal Trade Commission, claiming the service, which is part of Gmail, has caused multiple privacy concerns for consumers.
The most prominent complaint came from a woman whose ex-husband, a man who had violently abused her, was able to auto-follow her using Buzz. The man did not know how to find her prior to the launch of Buzz. Google’s reaction to the issue was swift: Buzz no longer automatically follows a user’s most frequent contacts, but instead suggests people you may want to follow.
EPIC, despite the changes, still wishes to see further actions taken to protect consumer privacy, such as a “fully opt-in” requirement and a ban from using Gmail contacts to compile social networking lists.
A western-Canadian-based social network site, Nexopia is also the subject of a privacy complaint, made to Canada’s Privacy Commissioner by the Public Interest Advocacy Centre (PIAC), a consumer advocacy organization based in Ottawa.
Nexopia is a popular site amongst children and teens that currently boasts more than 1.4 million registered subscribers. At the heart of PIAC’s complaint against the website are its privacy practices, six of which PIAC says violate the Personal Information Protection and Electronic Documents Act (PIPEDA). The key violation alleged by PIAC claims that Nexopia does not obtain proper consent to disclose the profiles and personal information of its young users to the general public.
John Lawford, counsel for PIAC, describes further issues pertaining to Nexopia’s search feature: “Nexopia’s member search engine can be used by everyone with an Internet connection and is a worrisome tool: it permits a very fine-grained search of Nexopia members. Using this search engine, for example, you could search for females between the ages of 13 and 16 in a particular city or attending a specific school with certain interests. This tool does not respect youth privacy.”
The CRCVC remains concerned about the real safety issues that can arise as a result of social-networking websites. Our office will be writing to Nexopia to address concerns with the site.
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