A 2012 survey by Siegel+Gale found that significantly less than half of respondents understood Facebook privacy policies, and just over one third had a good grasp of Google's use of personal data.
According to the survey, the policies were deemed harder to understand than government notices, bank credit card agreements and bank reward-programme rules.
While legal documents should be thorough and precise, consumers deserve protection just as much as businesses, says Console & Hollawell attorney, Richard Console. "Your informed consent to share data matters. Your privacy really is important and it's time corporations act like it."
They can't do that, or can they?
According to Console, the knee-jerk reaction to learning that Facebook and Google have shared personal information with the US government is an affronted 'they can't do that', but the researched reaction reveals they actually can.
Having scoured Facebook's data-use policy, Console notes a mention in the social network's Complete Data Policy: "Information we receive about you, including financial transaction data related to purchases made with Facebook Credits, may be accessed, processed and retained for an extended period of time when it is the subject of a legal request or obligation, governmental investigation, or investigations concerning possible violations of our terms or policies, or otherwise to prevent harm."
Similarly, says Console, Google's privacy policy also allows for the sharing of certain information for legal reasons. "At least, it has a bolded headline," he says, noting that even without the mention of personal data usage, the company can still legally share users' information. "And under federal law, it has to do so secretly," he adds, stressing that the requests Facebook received from the National Security Agency (NSA) are, by definition, confidential orders under the Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Act (FISA) and have to be kept secret.
According to TechCrunch, says Console, the secrecy is mandated to keep American citizens safe from equally secretive terrorist organisations, making it a little like Fight Club, with the first and most important rule being that it isn't discussed.
For the full article by Console & Hollawell, click here.
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