Facebook's PR firm exposed Google
By Yinka Adegoke |
May 14, 2011, Saturday
|
Print Edition
Print Edition
FACEBOOK admitted it had hired a public relations firm to highlight supposed flaws in Google's privacy practices but denied it had intended a smear campaign against the search giant.
Facebook, which has taken privacy missteps of its own with users in the past, hired WPP-owned PR firm Burson-Marstellar to focus attention on the use of consumers' personal information on Google Social Circles.
The revelation highlights the growing rivalry between Google, the world's leading web search business, and Facebook, the largest social networking site with more than 500 million users globally.
Facebook and Google's skirmish shows how consumer privacy, particularly around sensitive data, could be a ticking time bomb for modern Internet companies who manage an increasing amount of information about their users such as credit card and social security numbers.
Burson-Marstellar contacted journalists and privacy experts without revealing the identity of its client. Facebook said it should have presented the issues in a "serious and transparent" way.
"We wanted third parties to verify that people did not approve of the collection and use of information from their accounts on Facebook and other services for inclusion in Google Social Circles," the company said on Thursday. "Facebook did not approve of use or collection for this purpose."
Privacy and security analyst Christopher Soghoian was contacted on May 3 by Burson-Marstellar asking if he was interested in writing an opinion column on privacy issues related to Google Social Circles.
"They said if I don't have time they can write the column for me and get it into places like Huffington Post and The Hill," Soghoian said.
Facebook, which has taken privacy missteps of its own with users in the past, hired WPP-owned PR firm Burson-Marstellar to focus attention on the use of consumers' personal information on Google Social Circles.
The revelation highlights the growing rivalry between Google, the world's leading web search business, and Facebook, the largest social networking site with more than 500 million users globally.
Facebook and Google's skirmish shows how consumer privacy, particularly around sensitive data, could be a ticking time bomb for modern Internet companies who manage an increasing amount of information about their users such as credit card and social security numbers.
Burson-Marstellar contacted journalists and privacy experts without revealing the identity of its client. Facebook said it should have presented the issues in a "serious and transparent" way.
"We wanted third parties to verify that people did not approve of the collection and use of information from their accounts on Facebook and other services for inclusion in Google Social Circles," the company said on Thursday. "Facebook did not approve of use or collection for this purpose."
Privacy and security analyst Christopher Soghoian was contacted on May 3 by Burson-Marstellar asking if he was interested in writing an opinion column on privacy issues related to Google Social Circles.
"They said if I don't have time they can write the column for me and get it into places like Huffington Post and The Hill," Soghoian said.
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