April 30, 2008
Blockbuster has been accused of violating the Video Privacy Act in a federal class-action lawsuit filed by Cathryn Elaine Harris, a resident of Dallas County, Texas. The lawsuit, filed in U.S. District Court for the Eastern District of Texas, alleges that by participating in Facebook's Beacon program, Blockbuster disclosed Harris's movie rental and sales records to Facebook without her written consent.
Facebook introduced the Beacon program in November 2007 to track Facebook user activities on websites such as Blockbuster's, then share the tracked information with the user's Facebook friends. Facing the prospect of 50,000 of its members accusing the online company of invasion of privacy, Facebook modified its Beacon program four weeks after it had been initiated to require a member's consent before sharing this information.
Facebook Changes Privacy Policy
Originally, the Beacon program which shared information obtained by 44 advertisers, including Blockbuster, was implemented by default; so unless a Facebook user had specifically opted-out of the Beacon program, their private information would be automatically shared with their Facebook friends. Despite Facebook's changes to the Beacon program which now require a member's consent before the website shares their information, Harris alleges that unless a Facebook member also opts-out with Blockbuster, the information may still be shared without a Facebook member's consent.
Blockbuster Publishing Customer Movie Rental Records
The Video Privacy Act prohibits movie rental companies from disclosing their customers' identifiable rental records unless they have the customer's written consent. The Harris lawsuit seeks $2,500 damage for each time Blockbuster may have disclosed her information to Facebook.
Blockbuster spokesman Randy Hargrove said, "Our alliance with Facebook included numerous levels of privacy protections built in for our online subscribers. While we cannot discuss the specifics of this lawsuit, we intend to vigorously defend the company in this litigation."
