Facebook rejected by US Supreme Court in user-tracking lawsuit

Users say Facebook violated the Wiretap Act by creating ‘Like’ and ‘Share’ buttons that third parties could add to their websites as so-called plug-ins. The users say the plug-ins captured information about them and sent it to Facebook, even if they didn’t click on the button. — AFP

The US Supreme Court turned away an appeal by Facebook Inc, refusing to intervene in a lawsuit that accuses the company of violating a federal wiretapping law by secretly tracking the Internet activities of users logged off the social-networking site.

The rebuff which came without comment leaves intact a federal appeals court decision letting four Facebook users press part of a suit over practices the company used in 2010 and 2011. The people are seeking class action status and as much as US$15bil (RM61.70bil).