Facebook, Twitter lead opposition to social networking privacy law

Facebook, Twitter, Google (NASDAQ:GOOG), Yahoo and Zynga are among more than a dozen companies and tech industry associations signing a letter publicly opposing SB 242, a new bill proposed in California that could force social networking sites and other digital services to institute more stringent privacy settings and implement new restrictions on what user information is shared. SB 242, authored by Sen. Ellen Corbett (D-Cal.), would give California residents greater transparency into their social networking privacy settings, and a default setting would prohibit "the display...of any information about a registered user, other than the user's name and city of residence, without the agreement of the user."

In a letter mailed to Corbett on Monday, Facebook, Twitter and other tech giants outlined their opposition to SB 242, which they contend "would significantly undermine the ability of Californians to make informed and meaningful choices about use of their personal data, and unconstitutionally interfere with the right to free speech enshrined in the California and United States Constitutions, while doing significant damage to California's vibrant Internet commerce industry at a time when the state can least afford it." The letter says SB 242 would in fact decrease overall consumer privacy by forcing users to make decisions about the visibility of their information settings prior to using a social networking service, resulting in "users clicking through the available options without contextual understanding of or serious thought to the case-by-case implications of the choices being made."

The letter goes on to argue that by exposing social networking platforms to vast civil liability in the event they fail to implement SB 242's proposed privacy safeguards, the legislation presents a serious threat to large digital firms like Google and Facebook as well as the California-based application developers dependent on social networking services for their own revenue and growth.

"There are legitimate debates happening in California and around the world about the nature of online privacy and use of personal information on the Internet. These are important discussions," the letter concludes. "However, rather than establishing a floor for online privacy which social networking sites must meet or exceed, SB 242 would establish a ceiling, undermining meaningful consumer choice while incentivizing this growing industry to expand their operations anywhere but California."

For more:
- read the SB 242 opposition letter

Related articles:
Google, Apple will testify before Senate as mobile phone privacy debate spirals
Apple sued over iOS app privacy questions
Facebook bolsters mobile privacy controls