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Your Thing That Doesn’t Exist Is Our Top Priority

Facebook, which has apologized again and again for its recurring violations of its members’ privacy, and is facing billions of dollars in fines, tried a different tack in another case, again over privacy violations. Users have “no expectation of privacy” on the site, Facebook lawyer Orin Snyder told the judge in a Washington D.C. court hearing. “There is no invasion of privacy at all,” he continued, “because there is no privacy.” District Superior Court Judge Fern Flanagan Saddler wasn’t swayed by the argument: she ruled that the lawsuit by D.C. Attorney General Karl A. Racine could proceed, and he could begin “obtaining all of the evidence proving that Facebook broke District law and did not follow its own policies to protect the privacy” of users in its jurisdiction, Racine said. “Protecting people’s information and privacy is a top priority for us at Facebook,” the company still insists. (RC/Washington Post, The Week) ...But not as top a priority as selling out users despite repeated promises.