SB 242 Social Networking Privacy Act

CA - California Bill Would Force Change to Facebook Privacy Settings

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Original Article

Once again, Big Brother wanting to do the job of parents instead of parents being parents! Also, children under 13 are not suppose to be on Facebook in the first place. I think kids should be allowed on social networks, if they are aware of the dangers and smart enough to understand, otherwise they should not be on Facebook.

05/16/2011

A new bill proposed in California could force Facebook and other social networking sites to strip out personal information for children at a parent's request.

SB 242 (PDF) - also known as the Social Networking Privacy Act -- would require Facebook and others to carefully police which pieces of information on individuals under age 18 are accessible to the public. It would also provide a means for concerned parents to demand that a site take down their children's information, or face stiff fines as high as $10,000.

It's all wrapped behind the bill's main provision, which would establish privacy settings when a user first joins the network, rather than somewhere down the line.

"You shouldn't have to sign in and give up your personal information before you get to the part where you say, 'Please don't share my personal information,'" Sen. Ellen Corbett (D-San Leandro), who introduced a revised version of the legislation on May 2, told the San Francisco Chronicle.
- You don't!  You can chose to supply or not supply your personal information.  This just shows how little legislature knows about social networks or technology.

Corbett worries that the default settings on some sites make photos and biographical and family information available to everyone on the Internet after a user registers, unless the user changes those privacy settings.
- Well, she is wrong!

But that seemingly innocuous requirement has some far-ranging ramifications.

The bill "would force users to make decisions about privacy and visibility of all information well before they even used the service for the first time, and in such a manner that they are less likely to pay attention and process the information," said Tammy Cota, the executive director of the Internet Alliance trade association that includes Google, eHarmony, Match.com, Facebook and other companies, in a letter to the Senate Judiciary Committee.
- So, they are going after Facebook only?  What about the other sites mention above?

And Facebook itself, which has wrestled with the issue of privacy over the years, isn't exactly happy with the bill.
- I'm sure they are not, and they should fight it in court.  It's a Constitutional right to privacy, which the user has the ability to hide or not hide the information, it's up to them.  Although, I do agree, all sites should, by their own accord, not government mandates, make all info private in the first place and a user can make it public if they so chose.

Spokesman Andrew Noyes told the Chronicle that "any legislative or regulatory proposal must honor users’ expectations in the contexts in which they use online services and promote the innovation that fuels the growth of the Internet economy. This legislation is a serious threat both to Facebook’s business in California and to meaningful California consumers’ choices about use of personal data."