Facebook and controversies seem to be joined at the hip and the latest accusation against the social networking site is related to the
creation of 'shadow profiles'. According to Ireland's Data Protection Commissioner, Facebook has been maintaining data logs of information about the people who are not even registered with the site. The information is obviously being kept without the explicit consent of the concerned persons.
Facebook, on its part, has categorically denied the allegations. The company spokesperson said, "The assertion that Facebook is doing some sort of nefarious profiling is simply wrong." However, it
admitted that it lets its users to send invitational emails to their contact and that it keeps the record of such invites, email addresses and the names of the friends invited. Facebook also said, "We keep the invitees' e-mail address and name to let you know when they join the service "¦ This practice is common among almost all services that involve invitations." The social networking site also claimed that it does not use such information for ad targeting and that it does not sell such information either.
However, Facebook better get prepared for some probing. The complaint lodged against the social networking site claimed that even though Facebook does not use the stored information, but any breach of such information may cause massive damage. Irish Data Protection Commission is looking to investigate the Irish subsidiary of Facebook and depending on the outcome of the investigation; the penalty levied may be as high as 100,000 euros.