Facebook might be sued for the use of "Like" Button?

[chancerossi]

Buzz is that Facebook might be sued for the illegal use of "Like" button.The site currently reveals any products or interests that users "like" to their friends. This could be illegal under Californian law which forbids unauthorised use of people's likenesses for commercial purposes.

The company has been warned it could be sued by anyone from celebrities to ordinary citizens, Daily Mail reported on Monday.

What's your views regarding this? Is it right to sue Facebook for this? Have ur say.Thanks

[raftybooster]

Well media requires freedom and there is no such law to make limits for the digital media, if some one likes and want to mention using FB like button there is no such issue to stop this strategy.

[eruna]

Facebook apps kind of tweak me. You never know how they are being used. Logging in with Facebook connect, suddenly populates your new account with all kinds of information, and you never know what is going to start showing up on your Facebook wall. They are pushing privacy boundaries. A law suite might make them think twice about how they share information.

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[AussieJohn]

This could be illegal under Californian law which forbids unauthorised use of people's likenesses for commercial purposes.

That's state law, not Internet law

Seriously though, let's consider that if you're a personality/celebrity or product on Facebook then by placing yourself / your product on Facebook, you have implicitly agreed to see any publicly posted material.
As per their TOU:

When you publish content or information using the Public setting, it means that you are allowing everyone, including people off of Facebook, to access and use that information, and to associate it with you (i.e., your name and profile picture).
~ facebook.com/legal/terms

Facebook apps kind of tweak me. You never know how they are being used. Logging in with Facebook connect, suddenly populates your new account with all kinds of information, and you never know what is going to start showing up on your Facebook wall. They are pushing privacy boundaries. A law suite might make them think twice about how they share information.

Whenever you allow an App on Facebook, you have to agree to certain permissions. While it certainly doesn't explicitly say "We can post on your wall any time we want", it does state for example when an app wants access to post to your wall, access your friends list, or requires offline access (the offline access one is the tricky one that allows apps to post to your wall et al without intervention from you). You can go to your app settings and remove any app you no longer want to allow access to your account, and when you are in the process of allowing an app access, you can usually remove individual permissions as well.

[eruna]

Whenever you allow an App on Facebook, you have to agree to certain permissions.

A little popup comes up asking you if its OK to share your data, but you never know exactly how or why, which set of data is being accessed and how it is being used.

You can go to your app settings and remove any app you no longer want to allow access to your account, and when you are in the process of allowing an app access, you can usually remove individual permissions as well.

Facebook has an ever changing complex maze of permissions. Its like when a banks do funky stuff with your money, coming up with outrageous charges and say it was in the 8pt contract you signed off on. Banks have regulations to prevent consumers from being taken advantage of. As Facebook becomes more and more pervasive, it should also face some scrutiny as to how it shares your personal information.

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[chancerossi]

HI @eruna ;

I totally agree with you.I also sometimes use the Facebook connect and when I click on allow then suddenly I start receiving unwanted updates regarding the site.Its kinda annoying.One thing you can do to avoid such things is the mark it as spam of hide the post so that in future you won't see related posts.

[mobilecruzenet]

there is not particular or major use of facebook like button just to show ppl how many people like ur website and u can use that widget on ur website to show them like

and a little advantage is that when some 1 likes ur page ex: alex . then all alex friends can see that he like a page and some ppl would follow that link to ur page and some pople will use privacy settings soo they if they like also it shows to no 1

[AussieJohn]

there is not particular or major use of facebook like button just to show ppl how many people like ur website and u can use that widget on ur website to show them like

Really? Maybe it's because I work in the industry, but I don't go a day on the Internet without going to a dozen or more sites that use FB like buttons everywhere. Then again, I read a lot of articles/blogs etc., places where a like button is beneficial.

[taipres]

I definitely think they need to work on their privacy issues, more so than they have. The amount of data they log on everyone is absolutely crazy too IMHO.

[BadCoder]

1. facebook.com/legal/terms , Right now facebook allow to like all Publish Website. So, if you put your website public ( members don't need login ), then facebook can share. Google Plus, MySpace, Yahoo blablabla
2. SOPA, and PIPA <-- Those bill will make facebook change their privacy and TOS soon, if you go to Google.com today, you will see, they said, they are changed many many their TOS for all of their apps and services.

State Law can affect Facebook, if the State have some serious laws, that state can block Facebook like School love block myspace before.

[Shyflower]

1. facebook.com/legal/terms , Right now facebook allow to like all Publish Website. So, if you put your website public ( members don't need login ), then facebook can share. Google Plus, MySpace, Yahoo blablabla
2. SOPA, and PIPA <-- Those bill will make facebook change their privacy and TOS soon, if you go to Google.com today, you will see, they said, they are changed many many their TOS for all of their apps and services.

State Law can affect Facebook, if the State have some serious laws, that state can block Facebook like School love block myspace before.

SOPA and PIPA are, for the present, tabled. Neither have to do with privacy. They are laws meant to protect intellectual property rights, but they will actually result in the death of the WWW as we know it.

[samantha09]

I also do not think that it could even be applied. If that happens, then millions will be affected. The number of people using FB is uncontrollable.

[Shyflower]

I also do not think that it could even be applied. If that happens, then millions will be affected. The number of people using FB is uncontrollable.

Please do not resurrect old threads. As you can see this thread has been dormant for over three months. When a thread dies, let it RIP.

Thread closed.