U.S. District Judge Edward Davila dismissed a $15-billion lawsuit filed by Facebook users over tracking of their activities after they have logged account of the website. The judge says the plaintiffs failed to specify how they were harmed by the tracking.
The lawsuit, filed in 2012, states that Facebook members agree to the installation of "cookie" filed on their gadgets to track and transmit their web browsing activities. But such consent is absent once they log out from the popular social media portal, Bloomberg reports.
Complainants from San Jose, California charged Facebook with violating the U.S. Wiretap Act and "improperly profiting" from the data generated by tracking online activities, which includes scanning of users' private email messages for targeted advertising. The plaintiffs from San Jose are among the complainants from 10 states who enlisted in Facebook between May 2010 and September 2011. Their complaints were consolidated into one lawsuit which took three years to be decided by Davila.
Besides not seeing realistic economic harm of loss, Davila explains that the complainants failed to prove that Facebook's monitoring caused them to personally lose the chance to sell the information generated from tracking their online activities or it diminished the value of their information.
The $15 billion claim sought by the plaintiff is based on a $100 per violation per day stipulated by the Wiretap Act. The plaintiffs, Davila says, were given until Nov. 30 to amend their claims.
Their loss in the lawsuit is apparent failure to identify the websites visited, kind of data collected and if Facebook used or gave the information to someone else.
In Ireland, the Irish Data Protection Commissioner agreed to probe charges that Facebook is exposing the personal data of members to U.S. intelligence services. The complainant, identified only as Mr. Schrem, based his complaint on revelations of NSA whistleblower Edward Snowden that the National Security Agency uses covert software to snoop on data of Facebook users.