Judge Sides With Facebook In Offline Tracking Case

One point goes to Facebook, with the company getting a favorable decision by a judge in a privacy lawsuit. The social network was essentially accused of tracking user activity even when they are logged out of their accounts. According to the judge, the plaintiffs did not have any evidence to show that their privacies were violated in any way and that there was no harm done.

The decision was made last Friday, Business Insider reports when U.S. District Judge Edward Davila sided with Facebook with regards to the new anti-privacy lawsuit. According to the plaintiffs, the social network kept tabs on their online activities even when they were no longer signed into their accounts.

They claimed that this was made possible by the installation of cookies. This then allowed Facebook to track their movements whenever the users went to a website that contained the social network’s Like button.

Unfortunately for the plaintiffs, the judge decided that it was actually the users’ fault that they were being tracked. Davila notes that the users could have taken steps to make sure that their browsing experience was kept private. What’s more, the plaintiffs could not provide evidence of illegal interceptions or eavesdropping on the part of Facebook.

"The fact that a user's web browser automatically sends the same information to both parties does not establish that one party intercepted the user's communication with the other," Davila wrote.

After this decision, the users can no longer go back to court with the same case, Tech Times reports. However, Davila notes that they could pursue a new breach of contract case.

In any event, this decision is a huge blow to privacy activists who are aiming to make companies more accountable for anti-privacy activities. This sets the precedent that every other tech firm could use, which is to say that if users want privacy, they can simply use tools to make sure that they are not tracked.