Facebook to pay $9.5 mn on privacy claims

SAN JOSE, USA: a San Jose federal judge has approved a settlement of $9.5 million in a class-action lawsuit over social networking site Facebook's Beacon program that published what users were buying. The money would go to a privacy foundation created by the company and lawyer fees, with no money for users who sued Facebook.

According to a Bloomberg report today, U.S. District Court Judge Richard Seeborg in San Jose, California, said the foundation is a better use of the settlement money than splitting it among the 3.7 million consumers represented in the group. Most of the consumers in the lawsuit, which alleged privacy violations, approve the accord, he said in ruling that the settlement was fair.

“While the director associated with Facebook may reasonably be expected to exercise his influence against the foundation taking any actions that would clearly and directly harm Facebook, there is no persuasive showing that the foundation will be a mere publicity tool for Facebook,” Seeborg said in his ruling.

Following the allegation, Facebook agreed to end the Beacon program last November, though it denied any wrongdoing.

“We're pleased that Judge [Richard] Seeborg has approved the settlement after carefully considering all opinions,” a media report quoted Facebook spokesman Barry Schnitt as saying. “The independent foundation will fund worthy projects helping protect and improve Internet users' privacy, safety and security. We look forward to providing additional details on the foundation in the weeks and months ahead.”

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