But despite predating the Internet by decades, Robinson is well known among privacy advocates as the first person to sue for an invasion of privacy resulting from the unauthorized use of her photograph.

Although she ultimately lost her lawsuit, the publicity surrounding her case led to the passage of one of the country's first privacy laws in New York and helped persuade state and federal courts that they should recognize a "right to privacy."

Problems for Facebook in New York?

In a post to Harvard Law School's Info/Law blog, University of Minnesota Law School professor William McGeveran suggested that Facebook's new Social Ads program might violate the New York law adopted after Roberson's court case.

The Facebook ad program has three main features: a tool for businesses to create Web pages to interact with customers, either on a company-wide or product-by-product basis; an ad server designed to deliver ads virally through Facebook; and data collection and analytic tools.

The viral delivery of advertising occurs when a Facebook user takes some action on an advertiser's Facebook page. According to Facebook's press release, information about a user's consumer activity -- the renting of a movie, for instance, or the purchase of a book -- could be sent as an update (along with the user's profile photo) in the site's Minifeeds and News Feeds.

The Minifeeds and News Feeds features distribute information about users to their friends on Facebook. Facebook is offering to use the program to help businesses generate actual Facebook page ads that will feature customer profile pictures.

"I don't see how broad general consent to share one's information," Professor McGeveran said in a later e-mail, "translates into the specific written consent necessary for advertisers to use one's name (and often picture) under this law."

Have Users Agreed to This?

According to Lauren Weinstein, cofounder of People For Internet Responsibility (PFIR) and moderator of the Privacy Forum, the key question is whether Facebook users are given the opportunity to control what information about them gets distributed.

"Something like Social Ads does not represent a problem," Weinstein said in a phone interview, "as long as the customer has given fully informed, opt-in consent to the use of his information and image. It would not be legitimate for Facebook to run this on an opt-out basis. At a minimum, it has to be done with full knowledge and a positive indication that a customer actually wants to participate."

While cautioning that much of the discussion right now is theoretical, because Facebook only announced its Social Ads program a few days ago, Weinstein said that he hoped customers would be able to opt in on a business-by-business basis.

"It would be ideal," he added, "for customers to be able to opt in on a transaction-by-transaction basis, since there might be some online purchases that a Facebook user might not want his or her friends to know about. But that might be a little impractical."