Blockbuster gets sued over Facebook data feed

A 20-YEAR OLD LAW passed due to the embarrassment of a reactionary US Supreme Court nominee might cost video rental firm Blockbuster a lot of dosh.

A woman in Texas has sued Blockbuster for allegedly giving out her personal taste in movies to Facebook's much maligned Beacon marketing programme.

Cathryn Harris of Dallas County, Texas claims that Blockbuster transmitted her personal information to Facebook without her permission. Filed on April 9th in US District Court for the Eastern District of Texas, her lawsuit claims that, by having divulged her movie rental and purchase choices to Facebook's Beacon feature, Blockbuster violated the Video Privacy Protection Act.

Beacon tracks Facebook members online purchases and sends their Facebook " friends" alerts detailing the transactions. Beacon motivated a lot of complaints after it was rolled out in November of last year because Facebook users didn't realise they had to "opt out" in order to avoid sharing data about their online activities. Facebook users now must "opt in" to let Beacon broadcast their data.

Harris claims that Blockbuster has already violated the law and that it is still sharing her information without her consent. Her complaint, for which she is seeking certification from the court as a class action, alleges:

"To this day, however, Facebook still receives personal identifiable information from participating Web sites ... whether the Facebook member has chosen to distribute their information or not. To this day, Blockbuster Online members remain unsuspecting victims."

The US Congress passed the Video Privacy Protection Act in 1988, in reaction to the publication of President Reagan's US Supreme Court nominee Robert Bork's video rental history by a newspaper. (Bork had also admitted to having smoked marijuana in his youth, and his nomination was ultimately withdrawn.)

Blockbuster denies Harris's allegations. The Associated Press coverage is here. µ