Facebook Brings Courtcase Against Canadian Porn Company For Stealing Member Data

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Facebook believes that Istra Holdings has been stealing Facebook member information. Not only do its lawyers say Istra accessed millions of member pages, it claims that every time Istra did so, it chanelled information back to its own site. These were 'unauthorized' attempts at harvesting proprietary information, Facebook claims.

The case might be a blessing because it will force all parties involved in social networks to spell out who owns what in terms of private pages. Facebook's claim that Istra is stealing proprietary information hopefully is going to be addressed by the court as well. After all, no one 'owns' information on the social network but the members themselves.

The Istra company as well as 17 private individuals are challenged in a California lawsuit currently.

Facebook originally filed its case in the summer, but traced down the perpetrators later on, which led to an amendment in the case.

Facebook also wants a jury to issue the verdict. It wants Istra Holdings' owned SlickCash to pay out damages. SlickCash is an outfit that Facebook has little time for anyway; it pays Web sites for referring users to its portfolio of porn sites.

"The case raises questions about the consolidation of so much personal data in the hands of a few social-networking providers like Facebook, MySpace, and LinkedIn", comments Newsfactor Network.com.

The news site highlights the increased attention off late for security issues involved in social networks. "While individuals and business users find great benefits in being connected to others and in providing the information to allow others to find them, this also means people are exposing more personal details than ever before -- exactly at the time when spammers, hackers, and criminals are abusing such information", it says.

The case might set a precedent, but if it does, it is going to be a complex one. Proving that Istra Holdings had criminal intent will turn out difficult. One skeptic says that Facebook might just be making allegations that are hard to substantiate. It has, for starters, not said how it aims to prove that the company broke the law. However, the company likely wouldn't sue if it didn't believe it could win. Facebook already won a case against ConnectU a few months ago for a similar charge.

If Facebook doesn't have convincing proof to incriminate Istra, the case might focus on a very interesting topic; that of members' rights. Currently, there is nothing blocking people from fouling up the social network landscape in a spam like fashion; anyone can create a group, 'befriend' highly targeted audiences and rip their data off the system. Facebook's "acceptable use policy might be spelt out in this court case. At the moment, it is the only legal weapon the company has to prevent nasty situations like this.