A report issued by Canadian Privacy Commissioner said that Facebook has “serious privacy gaps” and should make changes to comply with the country’s laws.
The Commissioner Jennifer Stoddart gave Facebook 30 days to respond to the report. Failing that, there are possibilities that the company could be taken to federal courts.
Stoddart said It’s clear that privacy issues are top of mind for Facebook, and yet we found serious privacy gaps in the way the site operates.
She has identified four areas where Facebook should improve to deliver increased privacy to users. Concern over the ability of third parties to access user information through applications on the Facebook platform is one among those. Elizabeth Denham, the assistant commissioner, said: “Our major concerns are about the broad access third parties have to individual’s information.”
The report was issued in response to a complaint filed by the Canadian Internet Policy and Public Interest Clinic, a group based at the University of Ottawa law school. The complaint covered 12 distinct subjects, out of which the Commission’s report made recommendations on four, four were deemed invalid and the rest four had already been addressed by Facebook.
Barry Schnitt, Facebook spokesman, said: “We are confident that we will come to some sort of resolution. We believe right now that our privacy protections are adequate and that it’s far from a foregone conclusion that a court would uphold these findings.”
