Could Facebook's social ad strategy be scuppered?

Could a law passed over a century ago in New York really scupper Facebook’s recently announced Social Ads strategy?

by Helen Leggatt

In the late 1800’s, Abigail Robinson became one of the first to sue for invasion of privacy after a photograph of her was used without her consent. The New York statute states that “A person, firm or corporation that uses for advertising purposes, or for the purposes of trade, the name, portrait or picture of any living person without having first obtained the written consent of such person, or if a minor of his or her parent or guardian, is guilty of a misdemeanor.”

Facebook’s new social advertising strategy attaches the name and image of a person when they agree to share general information about themselves for insertion in to adverts. According to some reports, the consent doesn’t specifically mention the use of a Facebook member’s photograph and some think this unfair.

"I think that’s rather insensitive," writes Saul Hansell on the New York Times' blog. "To some users, it may be fine to say “I like Red Bull” but not fine to have their pictures appended to a Red Bull ad. There are cases where you like the product but don’t like its ads."

Facebook's chief privacy officer, Chris Kelly, stated that, in many states, an online consent is considered the same as a written consent.

"We are fairly confident that our operation is well presented to users and that they can make their own choices about whether they want to affiliate with brands that put up Facebook pages," said Kelly. In addition, it's not hard for Facebook to react to legalities and their member's demands and to amend their privacy policy and terms and conditions accordingly.