In recent months, online social networking Web sites have received a fair amount of media coverage. The attention has not only concerned their rapid growth and enormous popularity, but also, and perhaps more importantly, has focused on the novel privacy issues that have emerged vis-a-vis the sites and their members.
Broadly speaking, an online social network is a structure that allows its members to share personal information and enables personal contacts through a Web site or other Internet portal. Member pages of “core” social networking sites usually contain information and audio and visual content of a personal nature, though such information may vary widely among individual users. Often, this data includes the age, gender and personal interests and hobbies of the individual and is shared with others whom the member determines to be “friends.” In some instances, the social networking sites themselves have used this data in connection with marketers, albeit in different ways. In turn, this “sharing” has not only stoked the resentment of some social networking members and privacy advocates, but also has drawn the attention of the Federal Trade Commission (FTC), particularly with respect to online behavioral advertising.
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