Facebook Sued Over Allegedly Allowing Chinese Counterfeiters to Sell Fake NFL Merchandise

I hate to say "I told ya so," but, if you read my blog dated June 12, it basically states exactly what one NFL merchandiser is alleging in a class action suit filed against Facebook yesterday in a California court.

The suit claims, because of Facebook's insatiable desire to break into the still untapped Chinese marketplace, it has aligned itself with a Chinese marketing firm called Adsage that has been repeatedly accused of doing business with counterfeit entities in numerous countries across the globe.

To make matters worse, the suit accuses Facebook of helping these marketers -both legal and illegal- gain access to your data by "opening" their source code to its Chinese partners. Thus, if you routinely visit pages that promote the NFL, chances are you will be prompted to click on ads for "Authentic NFL Jerseys" that are anything but.

Of course, Facebook continues to hide behind its 'Cone of Silence'. Even stranger, is the fact that I've submitted at least half a dozen articles on Facebook's immoral, and possibly illegal, business practices to the Huffington Post and have been completely stonewalled. No matter what they're accused of, stalking, counterfeiting, identity theft, sex trafficking, murder, etc. etc., the Huff will not say a negative word about Mr. Zuckerberg and co.



In recent months, Apple and Google have both been caught spying on its users. The implications of the world's largest social networking site sharing all your info is huge. Not only in the area of counterfeit goods, but, in the realm of security, as well.

Chris Clayton, editor-in-chief of Delta Skymag, recently published an article demonstrating how futile, and near impossible, it is to hide your information once it's out there, and how readily available it is for those seeking to gain access to it.

As usual, our esteemed lawmakers seem to be asleep at the wheel when it involves anything to do with cyberspace. It took them six years to pass the CAN-SPAM act. When it comes to online issues, congress moves about as fast as a python that just ate a bear.

There needs to be a bill introduced in congress that mandates prison time, as well as heavy fines, for any CEO whose company is proven, knowingly or unknowingly, to be sharing its users personal information with other entities. That's the only way you motivate the tech geeks to make sure their first priority is your protection, and not their pocketbook.

Don't be surprised, if, in the coming weeks, more companies 'Like' this particular lawsuit.