Privacy and the Future of Facebook

“Facebook’s success rests on convincing investors that the company will continue to grow and innovate,” said  Adam Thierer.  “Intrusive privacy regulation could slow the development of more and better online content.”

For years, Europe has applied a strict regulatory blueprint to the Internet, and Thierer says we should be careful to avoid using such tight standards with Facebook.

“America's refusal to follow Europe’s regulatory path might help explain why so many U.S. online firms are leaders in the global digital marketplace.”

“New privacy regulation is unnecessary since government already possesses sufficient power to punish firms who break privacy promises made to consumers,” said Thierer.  “We saw this last year when the FTC brought charges against Facebook for failing to uphold privacy promises."