Thursday, January 21, 2010

INDUSTRY NEWS: Consumer Protection Group Calling for Privacy In Social-Networking Sites

Keep track of your online activities; and make sure your online presence is conducive and safe for your customers.
A Canadian consumer protection group, the Ottawa-based Public Interest Advocacy Centre, filed a complaint against Nexopia, a social networking site for teens, claiming issues regarding privacy.

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CONSUMER PROTECTION GROUP CALLING FOR PRIVACY IN SOCIAL-NETWORKING SITES

OTTAWA – A Canadian consumer protection group is calling on Canada’s privacy watchdog to force social-networking websites to adopt the same stringent privacy standards as those adopted by social-networking giant Facebook.

The Ottawa-based Public Interest Advocacy Centre filed a complaint with privacy commissioner Jennifer Stoddart Monday about the "unnecessary and non-consensual use and disclosure of personal information" by Nexopia, an Edmonton-based social-networking site aimed at teens. Nexopia.com labels itself "the place to be for teens looking to express themselves to the world," and boasts more than 1.2 million registered members — mostly from Western Canada — with more than one billion page views monthly. As a result, PIAC lawyer John Lawford said different rules should be applied to the site, which has users as young as 13. "Our basic complaint is if you are going to treat it like a club, then keep it in the club," he said Tuesday. "Especially for younger people because they don't fully realize the consequences of what's posted on a social-networking site." The complaint outlines six ways that Nexopia violates Canada's Personal Information Protection and Electronic Documents Act, known as PIPEDA. In her annual report to Parliament released last August, Stoddart identified youth privacy as an emerging "key issue," especially in the face of new technologies.

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