Suit against Facebook dismissed: 'Friend Finder' given nod

A class action suit against Facebook was dismissed over the ‘Friend Finder’ feature in the social networking site allegin violation of the users’ rights to control the use of their names.

Northern District magistrate judge Richard Seeborg granted the dismissal order on the ground of inadequate explanation from the plaintiffs on how they had been affected.

Seeborg wrote, Plaintiffs have not shown how the mere disclosure to their Facebook friends that they have employed the Friend Finder service (even assuming some of them did not) causes them any cognizable harm.”

However, he also dismissed Facebook’s argument that its terms of service and privacy policy give it the right to have user names or profile photos in any manner.

Nothing in the provisions of the terms documents to which Facebook has pointed constitutes a clear consent by users to have their name or profile picture shared in a manner that discloses what services on Facebook they have utilized, or to endorse those services, Seeborg wrote.

Friend Finder allows users to find friends quickly and see their posts via email and give feedback with ‘Like’ button.

To enable this, the feature prompts the users to enter their e-mail account passwords, then it scans users' e-mail contact lists for people they might want to add as friends.

The plaintiffs sued Facebook last November alleging it also uploads e-mail contact list to Facebook's server and then repeatedly e-mails non-members urging them to join.

The court is requiring the plaintiffs to plead injury in fact with more particularity, which we are confident we can do to the court's satisfaction, Jay Spillane said.