Privacy groups seek to intervene in Facebook settlement

A privacy group is asking a federal judge to carefully review the Federal Trade Commission’s (FTC) $5 billion privacy settlement with Facebook and to hear from public interest organizations before approving the agreement.

The Electronic Privacy Information Center (EPIC) filed a motion to intervene with the U.S. District Court for the District of Columbia on Friday, arguing that it has legal grounds to brief the court because it helped drive the FTC to take action against Facebook through a series of complaints against the company.

“If the proposed settlement is adopted, EPIC’s prior complaints at the FTC will be dismissed,” the group said in its filing. “Thus, EPIC has a clear interest in the outcome of this case.”

The settlement has been roundly criticized by privacy advocates and Facebook’s growing chorus of critics on Capitol Hill since it was announced on Wednesday.

In addition to the $5 billion fine, the deal requires Facebook to submit to increased monitoring and to install a committee within its board of directors to review the social network’s privacy practices.

But critics say that the agreement falls short because it doesn’t hold executives like CEO Mark Zuckerberg accountable for Facebook’s behavior and it does nothing to actually restrict Facebook’s ability to abuse user privacy.

“The proposed Consent Decree does not adequately address the consumer privacy complaints raised against Facebook by the FTC, numerous consumer privacy groups like EPIC, and individuals,” EPIC’s court filing reads. “EPIC’s arguments will assist the Court in reviewing the proposed Consent Decree and achieving a just and equitable adjudication in this case.”