Social Media Mix: Facebook Datalogix Match Made in Privacy Hell? Indian Police Makes ËœWanted` Posters Social

Reacting to the deal between Facebook and Datalogix, a company enabling “purchase-based audience targeting”, two independent online privacy monitoring agencies asked the FTC to investigate on suspicion of consumer trust breach, reports slashdot.org.

The Facebook ” Datalogix cooperation is basically supposed to measure Facebook ads` efficiency by measuring how many of those exposed to the ads on the social platform actually buy the advertised products and services. The Electronic Privacy Information Centre (EPIC) and the Center for Digital Democracy (CDD) have expressed concern as to what happens to users` personal information in this process.

“Datalogix has stated that it anonymizes user information and aggregates data about particular ad campaigns before it provides Facebook with any analytics,” reads an EPIC statement on the matter. “However, even with these anonymization features in place, Facebook may be violating an FTC consent order that it signed in August of 2012. The consent order contains provisions for securing the privacy of user data, among which is a provision requiring Facebook to give users clear notice of its intent to share user data with third parties.”

In a Sept. 27 letter to the FTC, both organizations urge the Commission to investigate the possible breach of the settlement reached with Facebook, especially as far as user consent and information disclosure are concerned.

“Facebook did not attempt to notify users of its decision to disclose user information to Datalogix,” reads the joint letter to the FTC. “Neither Facebook`s Data Use Policy, nor its Statement of Rights and Responsibilities adequately explains the specific types of information Facebook discloses, the manner in which the disclosure occurs, or the identities of the third parties receiving the information. In fact, Facebook only mentions Datalogix once – at the bottom of the `Interacting with AdsËœ page. This page requires at least five actions to reach from the Facebook.com home page and simply directs users to the Datalogix privacy policy.”

Facebook, on the other hand, remains “confident that we are in compliance with our legal obligations”.

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On a funnier and Western-themed note, Facebook is the 21^st century equivalent of the ËœWanted` poster in India, according to zdnet.

The police force of Indore has published photos of suspected bank robbers on the social platform in an attempt to get support of as many online socialites as possible. CCTV footage and a 35,000 rupees cash reward are at stake in an operation to apprehend two suspects having stripped a Bank of Maharashtra branch of 600,000 rupees in December 2008.

“After police in some cities managed to get leads on criminals and various incidents through the social networking site, we are also trying to take its help, along with other conventional methods, in getting clues about them,” a police official told zdnet.