FACEBOOK CLASS ACTION SCAM ?

So you might have recently got something in your email like this:

NOTICE OF PENDING CLASS ACTION AND NOTICE OF PROPOSED SETTLEMENT

ANGEL FRALEY V. FACEBOOK, INC.

You are receiving this e-mail because you may have been featured in a "Sponsored Story" on Facebook prior to December 3, 2012.

A federal court authorized this Notice. This is not a solicitation from a lawyer.

Why did I get this notice? This Notice relates to a proposed settlement ("Settlement") of a class action lawsuit ("Action") filed against Facebook relating to a particular Facebook feature called "Sponsored Stories." According to available records, you may be a "Class Member."

What is the Action about? The Action claims that Facebook unlawfully used the names, profile pictures, photographs, likenesses, and identities of Facebook users in the United States to advertise or sell products and services through Sponsored Stories without obtaining those users' consent. Facebook denies any wrongdoing and any liability whatsoever. No court or other entity has made any judgment or other determination of any liability.

What is a Sponsored Story? Sponsored Stories are a form of advertising that typically contains posts which appeared on facebook.com about or from a Facebook user or entity that a business, organization, or individual has paid to promote so there is a better chance that the posts will be seen by the user or entity's chosen audience. Sponsored Stories may be displayed, for example, when a Facebook user interacts with the Facebook service (including sub-domains, international versions, widgets, plug-ins, platform applications or games, and mobile applications) in certain ways, such as by clicking on the Facebook "Like" button on a business's, organization's, or individual's Facebook page. Sponsored Stories typically include a display of a Facebook user's Facebook name (i.e., the name the user has associated with his or her Facebook account) and/or profile picture (if the user has uploaded one) with a statement describing the user's interaction with the Facebook service, such as "John Smith likes UNICEF," "John Smith played Farmville," or "John Smith shared a link."

What relief does the Settlement provide? Facebook will pay $20 million into a fund that can be used, in part, to pay claims of Class Members (including Minor Class Members) who appeared in a Sponsored Story. Each participating Class Member who submits a valid and timely claim form may be eligible to receive up to $10. The amount, if any, paid to each claimant depends upon the number of claims made and other factors detailed in the Settlement. No one knows in advance how much each claimant will receive, or whether any money will be paid directly to claimants. If the number of claims made renders it economically infeasible to pay money to persons who make a timely and valid claim, payment will be made to the not-for-profit organizations identified on the Settlement website at www.fraleyfacebooksettlement.com (if clicking on the link does not work, copy and paste the website address into a web browser). These organizations are involved in educational outreach that teaches adults and children how to use social media technologies safely, or are involved in research of social media, with a focus on critical thinking around advertising and commercialization, and particularly with protecting the interests of children.

In addition to monetary relief, Facebook will (a) revise its terms of service (known as the "Statement of Rights and Responsibilities" or "SRR") to more fully explain the instances in which users agree to the display of their names and profile pictures in connection with Sponsored Stories; (b) create an easily accessible mechanism that enables users to view, on a going-forward basis, the subset of their interactions and other content on Facebook that have been displayed in Sponsored Stories (if any); (c) develop settings that will allow users to prevent particular items or categories of content or information related to them from being displayed in future Sponsored Stories; (d) revise its SRR to confirm that minors represent that their parent or legal guardian consents to the use of the minor's name and profile picture in connection with commercial, sponsored, or related content; (e) provide parents and legal guardians with additional information about how advertising works on Facebook in its Family Safety Center and provide parents and legal guardians with additional tools to control whether their children's names and profile pictures are displayed in connection with Sponsored Stories; and (f) add a control in minor users' profiles that enables each minor user to indicate that his or her parents are not Facebook users and, where a minor user indicates that his or her parents are not on Facebook, Facebook will make the minor ineligible to appear in Sponsored Stories until he or she reaches the age of 18, until the minor changes his or her setting to indicate that his or her parents are on Facebook, or until a confirmed parental relationship with the minor user is established.

YOUR LEGAL RIGHTS AND OPTIONS IN THIS SETTLEMENT SUBMIT A CLAIM FORM This is the only way to be eligible to receive a payment, if the Court orders payment to Class Members. Deadline: May 2, 2013 EXCLUDE YOURSELF This is the only option that allows you to retain the ability to file your own lawsuit about the legal claims in this case. Deadline: May 2, 2013 OBJECT Write to the Court about why you object to (i.e., don't like) the Settlement and think it shouldn't be approved. Deadline: May 2, 2013 GO TO THE "FAIRNESS HEARING" The Court will hold a "Fairness Hearing" to consider the Settlement, the request for attorneys' fees and expenses of the lawyers who brought the Action ("Class Counsel"), and the class representatives' request for service awards for bringing the Action. You may, but are not required to, speak at the Fairness Hearing about any Objection you filed. If you intend to speak at the Fairness Hearing, you must follow the procedures stated on the Settlement website to notify the Court and parties of your intent when you serve your Objection. Hearing Date: June 28, 2013 at 10:00 a.m. DO NOTHING You will not receive a payment, even if the Court orders payment to Class Members. You will also be giving up your right to bring your own lawsuit related to the claims in the Action. You may be eligible to receive the non-monetary benefits of the Settlement, if the Settlement is finally approved. No deadline

Your Class Member Number: 337794656

To Parents and Guardians of Children on Facebook: The Settlement also involves the claims of minors featured in Sponsored Stories on Facebook. Please see the Settlement website for more information.

More information? For more information about the Settlement and how to take the actions described above, please visit www.fraleyfacebooksettlement.com (if clicking on the link does not work, copy and paste the website address into a web browser) or write to the Settlement Administrator at Fraley v. Facebook, Inc., Settlement, c/o GCG, P.O. Box 35009, Seattle, WA 98124-1009, or GCG@fraleyfacebooksettlement.com. You may also contact Class Counsel, Robert S. Arns of the Arns Law Firm, by calling 1-888-214-5125 or by emailing fb.settlement@arnslaw.com.

 Is it another scam? Apparently not, and if you read it carefully everything is explained there. However, if you are still scratching your head I found this link helpful http://www.lifeofthelaw.org/facebook-class-action-notice-explained/ 

So basically it comes down to this. Crackbook (as I like to call Facebook) sucks. They used a whole bunch of people's names and pictures and put them in sidebar ads without any real consent. This Angel Fraley person has spearheaded a class action lawsuit against them because of this. If all is settled, the corporation will pay out millions of dollars (say 20 million) to all the people who submitted claim forms before May 2nd of this year. But because so many people may be part of it, you might only get no more than like 10 bucks, hell even a few cents, or NOTHING. The more people that have to be paid, the less each person gets, as I understand it. If some issue arises between you and Crackbook in the future that is similar, you can sue Crackbook on your own terms. But only if you had the foresight to be excluded from this case. If you didn't ask to be excluded, they will point out you were already part of this class action lawsuit and you either won it with everyone else part of it, or they already won it and there is to be no 're-match'. To fair I should point out that it's not just the money, if Crackbook loses the case they will be forced to make changes to their mechanics and policy so that stuff like this doesn't happen again. So that's probably the best part. Also, any money leftover after all members of the lawsuit have been paid out their crappy $10 will go to various charities.

Ok, so what am I going to do? What I mean is, I got the mail, meaning I was one of the people who had some form of their info used for sidebar ads without consent. It'd be nice to know exactly the particulars (in what way did they feature me?), but in a case like this they can't go over every person with a magnifying glass, it'd take too damned long. Knowing Crackbook sucked from the onset, I 'protected' myself but putting up bullshit info for just about everything. I also almost never clicked a 'Like' button, which is an easy way to get smattered into some ad or cause without realizing it, nor did I subscribe to applications after a point. I had my privacy settings set so that my friends only could see my material.

In contrast, just say I were, oh I dunno, a teenybopper who had my privacy set so that everyone could see things, I told the %100 truth and filled in every little blank. I also clicked 'Like' for a zillion things and had all these built in apps running on my page. If Crackbook wanted to use something of mine for a sidebar ad, they'd probably even legally get away with it, even if I jumped on board for this class action lawsuit. I mean if I did jump on board that'd be dumb, considering the way I conducted things. It'd almost be hypocritical. IE "I clicked 'Like' for Lululemon but oh no....are you telling me they put me somehow in one of their sidebar ads to show I actually liked them?" OR "I had my privacy set so everyone in the damn world could see my page, but, wait Crackbook used some of my stuff in ads?" That'd be the least of your worries. So many other vultures could have and would have pilfered elements of your page to their own whims and devices. 

Basically, since I wasn't the teenybopper....what could they have used that was mine? Barely anything. So why should I care? And I'll only get $10, as if that's any compensation? I don't even know what they used or what ads the stuff was for. It's nice for the common collective to have the donations to charities- or amendments to policies to make Crackbook a more user friendly experience. I could exclude myself in case I ever need to sue Crackbook on my own, but why would I, seeing how I turfed my account ages ago (yep that's right...check out http://fox-actors.blogspot.com/2012/08/why-im-quitting-facebook.html ). And if I do nothing at all, I give up my rights to my own potential future lawsuit, but once again why would I need to sue if I don't even have an account anymore? In other words how can a new 'incident' arise where I would have to sue them if I'm not even using the damn thing? I'm pretty sure I'm fine.

So, if you still have a Crackbook account and plan to use it for a while, what I would suggest for YOU if you've received this 'class action' mail is to exclude yourself. That doesn't mean do nothing, it means tell them you want to be excluded. Why? If you are included, you won't win much $ anyway or any $ at all. As far as the changes to all policies etc.- that will happen if they lose the case regardless of whether you were part of it or not.  If you do nothing, you might be screwed later if you have a reason to sue them similar to the one in this case. So the safest and easiest thing should be to exclude yourself. If they asked any info that is irrelevant to your exclusion, I wouldn't give them any of that either. Crackbook can go fuck itself.