Facebook ad plan may be illegal in New York

bizjournals.com
Saturday November 10, 2007

A new plan by Facebook Inc. that would attach advertisements to names and photos of users who like the products may be illegal under a privacy law, the New York Times reported Friday.

The statute says that a lawsuit for damages may be brought by "any person whose name, portrait, picture, or voice is used within this state for advertising purposes or for the purposes of trade without the written consent first obtained" and that such action could be a criminal misdemeanor.

Facebook, of Palo Alto, Calif., said its new Social Ads platform would let users link themselves to a product.

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The Times quoted William McGeveran of the University of Minnesota Law School, who wrote in his blog that the law could apply to Facebook users anywhere if the ad appeared in New York.

Earlier this month, Palo Alto-based Facebook launched another system, Facebook Ads, that will let marketers target specific interest groups.

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