WASHINGTON – U.S. Reps. Joe Barton, R-Texas, and Edward Markey, D-Mass., co-chairman of the House Bi-Partisan Privacy Caucus, today released responses to the letter they sent to Facebook CEO Mark Zuckerberg about recent privacy breaches on the popular social media site.

“It’s good that Facebook was in a hurry to respond to our concerns, but the fact remains that some third-party applications were knowingly transferring personal information in direct violation of Facebook’s privacy promises to its users,” said Barton, ranking member of the House Energy and Commerce Committee. “Millions of people put their information into the hands of Facebook and services like it because they believe what they’re told about walls protecting their privacy. I want the Internet economy to prosper, but it can’t unless the people’s right to privacy means more than a right to hear excuses after the damage is done. In the next Congress, the Energy and Commerce Committee and our subcommittees are going to put Internet privacy policies in the crosshairs.”

“Facebook needs to protect personal consumer information to ensure that getting connected doesn’t mean being unwittingly friended by data brokers and marketers. No one likes being friends with someone who invades their privacy,” Markey said. “With privacy legislation under consideration by the Energy and Commerce Committee, I will continue to work with my colleagues to ensure that Facebook personal user data isn’t siphoned off and sold to a data broker who cannot be unfriended.” 
 
The Facebook response can be found here. A copy of the original letter to Zuckerberg can be found here.