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If there’s one website out there that’s no stranger to privacy issues it has to be Facebook.  The social networking site has come under fire for its privacy policies and terms of service many, many times since its inception.  A group of five Facebook users have filed a lawsuit against the site in California’s Orange County Superior Court, looking for a jury trial, damages, and lawyer fees.

The suit is on behalf of a photographer, an actress, an original user (from back when the site was college-only), and two children under the age of 13 (who are violating the ToS by even having accounts).  The suit is alleging that Facebook is violating California privacy laws by sharing private information for commercial purposes.  Essentially, the lawsuit is coming to Facebook because the users are using the site.  All private information put on Facebook is submitted by users who can then control their own privacy settings for that information.

This suit could easily have been avoided by the users never joining the site or simply deleting their information.  Deactivating the accounts wouldn’t delete the information, but it is possible to delete what is already posted.  Perhaps the one user with any sort of merit would be the original user since when they signed up nobody outside of college could even access Facebook.  However, this lawsuit comes years after the switch which makes it seem like a money grab at a slight annoyance that could easily be fixed on the user end.

Facebook is intending to fight the lawsuit, with a spokesperson saying the site sees “no merit to this suit.”

Read [CNet News]