Facebook Beacon violates several laws

A husband plans, researches and buys the perfect Christmas gift for his wife.

He can't wait to surprise her. Instead, all was ruined when a message was displayed on his Facebook news feed stating, "Sean Lane bought a 14K White Gold 1/5 ct Diamond Eternity Flower Ring from overstock.com." The news feed is able to be read by anyone looking at his Facebook site, including his wife.

According to an article, a group of irked Facebook members filed a class-action lawsuit against Facebook Tuesday that said the company's controversial Beacon advertising program violates several laws, including the Electronic Communications Privacy Act (ECPA), the Computer Fraud and Abuse Act (CFAA), and the Video Privacy Protection Act (VPPA).

I don't understand why Facebook would take such risks and want to be a part of publishing sometimes private information. Were they just hoping that all Facebook members would be happy with the postings? Were they seeing how much more traffic those postings would bring and hope they would offset the negative feedback?

Facebook has not yet commented on the lawsuit, but it will be interesting to hear what they have to say.