A group of Facebook users filed a civil lawsuit which claims the social notworking site has broken California consumer privacy laws.

Five users want a jury trial, as well as damages and attorneys' fees. Two of the plaintiffs are described as two children younger than 13. The other three are a user of the original Facebook, a professional photographer, and an actress and model.

What has miffed them is that Facebook has been giving private information to third parties for commercial purposes. A Facebook spokesman declined to comment on the specifics of the lawsuit other than to say, "We see no merit to this suit and we plan to fight it."

The social network went through a user backlash over the introduction of its News Feed in 2006, and a bigger one over the controversial Beacon advertising program. More recently, a revision to Facebook's terms of use was claimed to mean that Facebook claimed ownership of user profile data and photos.