Sean Feeney
Architect of the digital age

Blockbuster breaking the law by signing on with Facebook

12 December 2007

An excellent article at Mashable today revealed that Blockbuster is liable for billions of dollars under the Video Privacy Protection Act of 1988 for releasing customer details to Facebook via the Beacon advertising program. I believe the Mashable author makes a mistake in labeling Facebook as being liable for these billions as well, but it is clear that Facebook was the enabler who encouraged Blockbuster to break the law. What kind of fine comes with that action is unclear. And whether or not Blockbuster has to pony up the billion dollar fines is likely up to whether or not a privacy group takes this issue under their wing and files a class action lawsuit on behalf of the unknown percentage of Blockbuster’s customers who are also Facebook users. This should be an interesting issue to watch play out.

Posted in law, privacy, Social Networking