ZDNet – “The Federal Trade Commission (FTC) has criticized Facebook for claiming that a consent decree handed down by the organization was the reason they had to shut down New York University’s Ad Observatory. Facebook has faced significant backlash this week after they closed the researchers’ accounts working for the Ad Observatory project, which let Facebook users download a browser plugin that allowed the researchers to see what kind of ads show up on someone’s page. Facebook product management director Mike Clark defended the decision to shutter the project, writing that it was in violation of the website’s Terms of Service and a privacy program demanded by a recent FTC order. But Samuel Levine, acting director of the FTC’s consumer protection bureau, said Facebook was wrong to insinuate their decision had anything to do with the FTC…”