Myspace Settles FTC Privacy Charges

Myspace may have lost out in the social networking wars to Facebook, but the company is still alive and kicking. It found itself in a spot of trouble with the FTC not too long ago regarding user privacy, with the company handing identifiable information over to advertisers. Yesterday Myspace settled the matter by agreeing to submit to privacy audits to be independently conducted over the next 20 years.

The social network also settled charges regarding its subversion of EU "Safe Harbor" laws, which saw the company transferring user data to the US for processing despite being collected in Europe. The FTC has been bullish on user privacy concerns as of late, previously challenging Facebook and Google who have accepted similar deals to be audited over 20 years. Twitter also had a tangle with the FTC in 2010, and will see audits over the next 10 years.

It's expected that the FTC will target Google again regarding the Safari hack that allowed it plant cookies that the browser would otherwise have ignored. Google could face huge fines if they're found to be guilty of any wrongdoing, although there's no indication right now as to when the FTC will pursue Google.

[via The Guardian]