Myspace, FTC Settlement Reached After Privacy Probe

WASHINGTON (AP) — Myspace, the once mighty social network, settled a privacy investigation by the Federal Trade Commission and agreed to submit to privacy audits over the next 20 years.

The settlement, over charges that Myspace misrepresented its privacy policies to users, is similar to a deal the FTC struck with Facebook in November.

The FTC said Tuesday that despite telling users it would not share personally identifiable information with others, Myspace gave advertisers users' "Friend ID" numbers. That allowed advertisers to find users' publicly available personal information, often including full names, and could even lead advertisers to discover users' web-browsing activity.

In the settlement, Myspace agreed not to misrepresent its privacy policies, to implement a comprehensive privacy program and to submit to regular, independent privacy assessments for two decades.

Myspace, launched in 2003, was a popular Internet destination for years. But the social network was left in the dust by Facebook. News Corp., which had bought Myspace for $580 million in 2005, sold it to Specific Media last year for $35 million.

Specific Media, based in Irvine, Calif., is an online ad network operator.

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Comments

[War peace]

03:34 PM on 05/09/2012

Wow MySpace is still around? I thought it parked itself on the self next to Alta Vista and Netscape

[oneyippie]

01:11 PM on 05/09/2012

Your personal info is worth from $1 to $100 (based on Facebook's valuation).

Everyone should be charging Facebook, Myspace, and Google for their personal info, or don't use them.

[derickma]

08:40 AM on 05/09/2012

what to people think Facebook does with all your information .. think about it Facebook knows who you and your family and friends are where you go what you read online it's an advertisers wet dream.

[Vocalid]

03:11 AM on 05/09/2012

Memo to self: delete mayspace account

[Vocalid]

03:12 AM on 05/09/2012

Memo to self: drink coffee and check spelling before posting

[metapunk]

01:41 AM on 05/09/2012

More NewsCorp privacy nonsense. Great.

[biglog]

12:07 AM on 05/09/2012

I've never understood the attraction of posting every detail about oneself on the internet, especially when it's commonly known this information is sold for profit, monitored by government agencies and employers, etc. Obviously I'm in the minority, so maybe that says more about me than the rest of humanity. I don't know. Nevertheless, don't expect to catch me on Facebook or Myspace anytime soon.

[G D]

12:50 AM on 05/09/2012

I'm with you there except for one thing. I go on the internet just to see what's going on in everyone else's life. I think I have a bigger problem!!!

[authorized-user]

09:32 PM on 05/08/2012

History does repeat itself, especially for those who don't learn the first time.

[bathroomonkey7]

07:02 PM on 05/08/2012

In 10 years FB will be in the tumbleweed ghost town that Myspace is in today.

[addisonsteele]

06:35 PM on 05/08/2012

To repeat myself: the business model of all social media companies is to convince people to post private information on the Web and then to sell it to the highest bidder. Privacy is antithetical to profits. Therefore, there will be no privacy.

[ReignSupreme]

06:10 PM on 05/08/2012

It sux when you don't read the fine print with a magnifying glass.

[AsheMan]

08:55 PM on 05/08/2012

This article is saying that the fine print was a lie, so it wouldn't matter if you had read it.