A legal suit has been filed in the U.S. against Facebook Inc. and the U.K. based data analytics and political consulting company Cambridge Analytica over allegations of misuse of personal data of over 50 million American users of Facebook during the U.S. presidential elections of 2016.
Lauren Price, a Maryland resident, was the individual who filed the proposed class-action complaint late on Tuesday night. This is the first such case filed in lieu of the data breach incident but is believed to be the first of many that are likely to be filed looking court intervention for assuring data protection on Facebook and potentially asking the court to grant damages against the inability of the social media platform to secure personal data of users. law suits are also likely against Cambridge Analytica for its alleged misuse of personal data of Facebook users in 2016 elections.
“Every Facebook user has an interest in this lawsuit, and the enforcement of their privacy rights,” John Yanchunis, a lawyer for Price, told the media on Wednesday.
Earlier the same day, a shareholder lawsuit was filed in nearby San Francisco against Facebook as it was blamed in the law suit of being responsible for the fall in share prices following the revelation of the data breach and misuse of data. A few hours after that case in San Francisco, the latest complaint was filed in the US District Court in San Jose, California. In the last two days since news of the misuse of data emerged, there has been a wiping away of almost $50 billion off the market value of Facebook.
There have been no comments made any comments in the media by Facebook and Cambridge Analytica.
Violation of a California unfair competition law and negligence are the charges that have been brought by Price against Facebook and London-based Cambridge Analytica.
Menlo Park, California-based Facebook claims in its data protection policy that user trust was “important to us” and that the company would never share any personal information of its users without prior and explicit permission and notice. This formed the basis for Price alleging that the privacy policy of the social media company had been violated by the data harvesting.
“Our client saw a tremendous uptick in political messaging during the campaign on her Facebook page, which she had never seen,” Yanchunis said. “She had a glimmer of understanding at the time, but now sees there was an attempt to influence her vote.”
Damages of unspecified amount – that includes possible punitive damages, has been sought in the complaint.
It should be a “fairly easy exercise” of identification of the potential Facebook class members, said Yanchunis. He has been engaged in another law suit against Verizon Communications Inc. o the incident of breach of data at the Yahoo Internet business of the company which impacted approximately 3 billion accounts.
Facebook “leaves a footprint of what was taken that cannot be erased” he said and added that te case can be assisted by cybersecurity experts.
The case is Price v Facebook Inc. et al, US District Court, Northern District of California, No. 18-01732. The shareholder case is Yuan v Facebook Inc. et al in the same court, No. 18-01725
(Source:www.livemint.com)
Lauren Price, a Maryland resident, was the individual who filed the proposed class-action complaint late on Tuesday night. This is the first such case filed in lieu of the data breach incident but is believed to be the first of many that are likely to be filed looking court intervention for assuring data protection on Facebook and potentially asking the court to grant damages against the inability of the social media platform to secure personal data of users. law suits are also likely against Cambridge Analytica for its alleged misuse of personal data of Facebook users in 2016 elections.
“Every Facebook user has an interest in this lawsuit, and the enforcement of their privacy rights,” John Yanchunis, a lawyer for Price, told the media on Wednesday.
Earlier the same day, a shareholder lawsuit was filed in nearby San Francisco against Facebook as it was blamed in the law suit of being responsible for the fall in share prices following the revelation of the data breach and misuse of data. A few hours after that case in San Francisco, the latest complaint was filed in the US District Court in San Jose, California. In the last two days since news of the misuse of data emerged, there has been a wiping away of almost $50 billion off the market value of Facebook.
There have been no comments made any comments in the media by Facebook and Cambridge Analytica.
Violation of a California unfair competition law and negligence are the charges that have been brought by Price against Facebook and London-based Cambridge Analytica.
Menlo Park, California-based Facebook claims in its data protection policy that user trust was “important to us” and that the company would never share any personal information of its users without prior and explicit permission and notice. This formed the basis for Price alleging that the privacy policy of the social media company had been violated by the data harvesting.
“Our client saw a tremendous uptick in political messaging during the campaign on her Facebook page, which she had never seen,” Yanchunis said. “She had a glimmer of understanding at the time, but now sees there was an attempt to influence her vote.”
Damages of unspecified amount – that includes possible punitive damages, has been sought in the complaint.
It should be a “fairly easy exercise” of identification of the potential Facebook class members, said Yanchunis. He has been engaged in another law suit against Verizon Communications Inc. o the incident of breach of data at the Yahoo Internet business of the company which impacted approximately 3 billion accounts.
Facebook “leaves a footprint of what was taken that cannot be erased” he said and added that te case can be assisted by cybersecurity experts.
The case is Price v Facebook Inc. et al, US District Court, Northern District of California, No. 18-01732. The shareholder case is Yuan v Facebook Inc. et al in the same court, No. 18-01725
(Source:www.livemint.com)
