Congressmen Increasingly Pissed with Facebook
At first, the co-chairs of the Congressional Privacy Caucus said they were "concerned" about Facebook's tracking of users. Then they were "alarmed." Now they're just pissed.
"Facebook seems to be saying one thing and doing another," said one co-chair, Republican Joe Barton of Texas, after exchanging a series of letters with the company. "Facebook seems to be refusing to answer the question," said the other co-chair, Democrat Edward Markey of Massachusetts. Yes, exactly. You guys are finally beginning to understand how Facebook operates!
The privacy caucus is specifically concerned about Facebook's die-hard internet-wide tracking cookies, and about how the company said it didn't track users across the internet and then applied for a patent citing how it tracks users across the internet. It is tricky for politicians to find villains who mislead and equivocate as much as politicians do, just as it is hard for them to find substantive issues where there is genuine bipartisan agreement. So, in this case, Facebook seems to be providing some very personalized and useful content, for once.