Even if you don't have a Facebook, you have a Facebook

While surfing the Internet, I came across an article titled "Facebook Building 'Shadow Profiles' of Non-Members, Experts Allege," found on foxnews.com. It centers on the claim made by Ireland’s Data Protection Commissioner that accuses Facebook of building "shadow profiles" of non-users who have not even signed up to join Facebook. Though Facebook denies this accusation, international privacy watchdogs claim that Facebook creates these profiles by taking the information of non-users from the profiles of actual users. Ciara O'Sullivan, a spokeswoman for Ireland's Office of the Data Protection Commissioner, stated that this completely violates privacy laws in Europe, and that the commission plans to do a complete audit of Facebook.

In rebuttal to Ireland's accusation, Andrew Noyes, a spokesman for Facebook, claimed the "allegations are false" and that "the assertion that Facebook is doing some sort of nefarious profiling is simply wrong." But was this simply an "assertion" or was there viable evidence that supported Ireland's claim? According to the article, Facebook claims that no information received from its users is used for ads or sold to third parties, but Ireland believes they are doing just that. They claim to have evidence that Facebook is "gathering excessive amounts of information about data subjects without notice or consent by the data subject" and the subject matter "might also constitute sensitive data such as political opinions, religious or philosophical beliefs, sexual orientation and so forth." This possible privacy violation could mean a big penalty towards Facebook, since it potentially violates Europe's strict privacy laws.

Though the claim of Facebook's "shadow profiles" has yet to be proven, this is just one of many accusations against the privacy policies of Facebook and other social networking sites. Kelly Kubasta, who heads the Dallas law firm Klemchuk Kubasta’s social media division, stated that "regardless of what Facebook is doing, many websites collect and propagate personally identifiable information about individuals who have not entered into any agreement with the website." If proven true, these "shadow profiles" could stir up a lot of controversy over privacy violation. Until then, Kubasta agrees that Facebook, and other social networking sites alike, could do a lot more to effectively protect personal data.

Sources:
http://www.foxnews.com/scitech/2011/10/21/facebook-building-shadow-profiles-non-members-experts-allege/