ClickZ
Joining the lawmakers in criticizing the development is a key privacy advocate, Chris Hoofnagle. Hoofnagle is one of three people named to run The Digital Trust Foundation, a group intended to fund initiatives to promote online privacy and security. In an odd twist, the foundation was created through a court settlement of a class action suit related to Facebook’s short-lived Beacon ad program. It has not been officially established yet, since the settlement is still awaiting possible appeal.
“Until all appeals (if any) are addressed, we are in purgatory,” said Hoofnagle, who is director, Information Privacy Programs at Berkeley’s Center for Law and Technology.
“Facebook is in wealth maximization mode, which should give pause to any user concerned about increasing revelation of personal data,” wrote Hoofnagle in an e-mail to ClickZ News about the site’s recent changes. He went on to suggest that Facebook users “seem to be tiring of the company’s shifting goalposts on information sharing.”