Facebook Hit with Class-Action Lawsuit Over Privacy Changes

The accusation that Facebook mishandled users' private information and breached their privacy has come to light as a Canadian law firm files a class-action lawsuit against the social network company.

A lawsuit against Facebook was recently filed on July 2nd by Merchant Law Group LLP in Winnipeg, Manitoba. A large part of Merchant Law Group LLP's business is class-action lawsuits and they will be handling the suit filed on behalf of Donald J. Woligrosky, a registered Facebook user, and other class action members.

It was only a matter of time before one or more of the 450 million plus users of Facebook would seek damages for Facebook allegedly mishandling of private information. Just this year, Facebook has struggled with implementing new features and settings to satisfy many users who were concerned about their privacy while using Facebook.

One of the parties that filed the class-action lawsuit against Facebook contends that Facebook subjected them to a breach of privacy and a misappropriation of personal information. The suit further asserts that the personal information was used for commercial purposes.

Part of the class-action lawsuit states the following:

"The defendant's acts of deceit and omissions have breached the duty of care it owed to its users and have caused the plaintiffs to suffer injury, economic loss, and damages, which they continue to suffer."

"Facebook has demonstrated and taken a cavalier and arbitrary approach with respect to its legal obligations to the plaintiff and class members and the methods by which Facebook misrepresented to its profit, its privacy policies and how Facebook would share, use and disseminate the personal information of the plaintiff and class action members."

Computerworld.com was one of the sources that first reported what a Facebook spokesman said to them in response to the class-action suit. The spokesperson said, "We see no merit to this suit and we will fight it vigorously." That basically means Facebook sees no wrong doing on their part and will uphold their position throughout this lawsuit.

For the time being, this in no way helps Facebook alleviate any privacy concerns that its users may still have. Just last month, Mark Zuckerberg, Facebook's founder and CEO, initiated changes to privacy settings in an attempt to make it easier for users to find the optimal privacy settings to their liking and ultimately give users more control of their own information.

Do you think the parties that filed the class-action lawsuit have a chance at winning?