The Register quotes security guru Bruce Schneier saying: “Facebook is the worst [privacy] offender – not because it’s evil but because its market is selling user data to its commercial partners.”
Facebook’s business model is to guide advertisements on its site toward users based on their interests as revealed by data about them. It is not to sell data about users. Selling data about users would undercut its advertising business.
It’s easy to misspeak in extemporaneous comments, and The Register is not your most careful media outlet. But we’ve almost got enough data points to show a consistent practice of misrepresentation on Bruce Schneier’s part. Perhaps that should be actionable as an unfair or deceptive practice under section five of the FTC Act.
The Technology Liberation Front is the tech policy blog dedicated to keeping politicians' hands off the 'net and everything else related to technology.