Facebook Inc (NASDAQ:FB) experimental manipulation borders on illegal conduct

People are fuming at Facebook Inc (NASDAQ:FB) and their unethical manipulation of individual feed pages, but the question remains: Is it an illegal practice?

Two professors of law, Leslie Meltzer Henry and James Grimmelmann, from the University of Maryland claims that it is, and have forwarded correspondence to the state of Maryland’s attorney general office stating these allegations. If the Attorney General decides to enforce this law, it would be the first time in history that HOUSE BILL 917, which was passed in 2002, will be applied to a private corporation.

These law professors have claimed that Facebook Inc (NASDAQ:FB) and the famous dating site, OkCupid have both violated HOUSE BILL 917, and that they should both review and follow the laws that have been set forth regarding human research studies.

With very few exceptions, the Common Rule states: that all federally funded research must adhere to two requirements. The first being that all human subjects must be willing to sign a consent form prior to any experiments, and that they should be aware of what they are getting into, when signing up for such an experiment. Informed consents are not difficult to obtain, and should be common practice when human studies are conducted.

The second requirement states: that any research or experiments that involve human beings must be closely evaluated by a review board, to vet the legality of the research and said experiments.

This Common Rule regime applies to all research that is funded by the United States government. HOUSE BILL 917 set forth by the State of Maryland, allows this type of protection to be extended to all research within the State, even if it is not federally funded.

Research is defined by Federal and Maryland law as an investigation that is systematically designed to bring forth generalizable knowledge. Facebook Inc (NASDAQ:FB) has published their findings in a scientific journal known as the Proceedings of National Academy of Sciences. OkCupid had also shared the findings of their study via the World Wide Web.

Christian Rudder, the CEO of OkCupid dating site, has been on a tour to promote his new book that focuses on the results of the study, and how the experiment they conducted will benefit individuals, in order to have a deeper understanding of the many issues related to dating and other generalized topics.

Henry and Grimmelmann attempted to contact Facebook Inc (NASDAQ:FB) and OkCupid in writing, informing them that this type of research is unlawful. As of yet, OkCupid has not responded, but Edward Palmieri, a lawyer representing Facebook Inc(NASDAQ:FB) did respond to the allegations stating: that the laws and rules that were cited did not apply to this particular situation. Facebook Inc(NASDAQ:FB) stands by the theory that the studies and research they conducted were product-based, and not research conducted on human subjects.

Facebook Inc (NASDAQ:FB) opened today at 78.60, and at 11:30 am EST it is holding at 77.6. The 52 week outlook ranges from 43.55 to 78.94, with the market cap at 201.83 B and the inst. ownership is at 66%.