23 Apr Judge sends Blockbuster to court over Facebook Beacon Borking
The Register, By Cade Metz, April 21, 2009
A federal judge has given the green light to a lawsuit brought against video giant Blockbuster over its use of Facebook’s privacy-destroying “Beacon” ad system. A year ago, a Texas woman named Cathryn Elaine Harris sued Blockbuster after it used Beacon to share her movie rentals with her so-called Facebook friends. The suit seeks class-action status, and as MediaPost reports, US District Court Judge Barbara Lynn ruled that the case can go to court – even though Blockbuster’s online terms and conditions insist that disputes can’t be brought to court and that users must waive their right to class-action suits. According to Judge Lynn, Blockbuster’s online terms and conditions are “illusory” and “unenforceable” because the company reserves the right to change them at any time.