Facebook invades the privacy of its customers and misappropriates people's images and personal information for marketing and commercial purposes, a class action claims in Orange County Court, Calif. The class claims Facebook's "unconscionable" terms and conditions allow it to compile an extraordinary amount of data from users, and permits third parties access to a gold mine of information without users' knowledge or consent.

Professional photographer Elisha Melkonian says Facebook permitted her photos to be downloaded, copied and distributed without her permission, despite her fruitless attempts to stop it.

Melkonian says she is concerned that Facebook has stored personal information posted by her 11-year-old son, including "partially clothed photographs of children aged 5 to 11" who were swimming.

She claims Facebook's terms and conditions are misleading, as they do not clearly specify how Facebook stores or uses such sensitive material as contact information, date of birth, email addresses and phone numbers, which puts users at risk of identity theft.