Even
with the best intentions, Facebook is flailing -- and failing -- to defuse the controversy arising from its new Open Graph. Facebook's latest move in its ongoing privacy punch-up is the hiring of Tim
Muris, the former chairman of the Federal Trade Commission under George W. Bush from 2001-2004, as a liaison with the current FTC; basically Muris is supposed to help Facebook reach some kind of
compromise with the FTC to head off intrusive regulation regarding privacy issues.
Predictably, the press and pundits have jumped all over Facebook for hiring an ex-Bush official, noting the
previous administration's serial violations of privacy (most notably with illegal wiretapping). But these criticisms are off-target.
First of all, Muris and the FTC had nothing to do with the
illegal wire-tapping, which was carried out in secret by the National Security Agency. Besides the telecoms which collaborated with the administration, there's no proof anyone else was told other than
the chairs and ranking members of the House and Senate Intelligence committees. Indeed, regulators from the FTC or FCC would probably be literally the last people the spooks would tell about their
nefarious activities.
Furthermore, who else can Facebook hire with a comparable resume? Think about it: social networks are a relatively new phenomenon which first emerged during the eight
years of the Bush administration (MySpace was founded in 2003, Facebook in 2004). If you're looking to hire a former official who's handled social network issues, you pretty much have to go hunting
among Republican appointees.
Last but certainly not least, Muris actually has pretty strong credentials when it comes to protecting consumer privacy and marketing issues generally. He's
probably best known for leading the effort to create a national "do not call" list to shield consumers from unwanted telemarketing in 2002-2004. In 2009 the Council of Economic Advisors noted that the
"do not call" registry was very popular with the public, with 72% of Americans signing up. During his tenure as FTC chairman Muris also pushed to safeguard online credit card and other consumer
information, block email SPAM, and ensure that software companies were legally liable for claims made regarding online security products.
But for all his qualifications, I don't expect
Facebook's hiring of Muris will receive gentle treatment in the press or the halls of power. For one thing, there is an element of political theater to the controversy: grandstanding Senators can
easily brush off Muris if they feel like it, playing up his association with the Bush administration to make Facebook look bad. Not that they need much help there: recently Facebook seems to be its
own worst enemy, with reports of multiple privacy breaches as it attempts to implement a new program sharing more consumer information than ever before. Until it remedies these basic (and very
damaging) flaws, it won't matter who it hires to represent it on Capitol Hill.