It been six months since Facebook sued Power.com on the charges of copyright and trademark infringement and now the tables have turned with a counter-suit from Power against Facebook. The counter suite comes amid a raging debates, that revolves around user data and whether users or the websites have authority over it.

From Power’s point of view, the user data is the sole proprietorship of the users who put faith in a website’s privacy policy and then share their details. Power.com asserts that, user should have ‘total and complete’ control over their data that they provide and publish, and should be able to protect it form other users and from corporate use. Facebook on the other hand disagrees with these views and intends to follow the counter suit with their own arguments. According to a statement released by Facebook,

“The claims in Power’s lawsuit are without merit, and we will fight them aggressively.

Power CEO Steve Vachani says,

“If you block users’ data or any tools they would like to use to get that data … this is similar to phone companies that blocked you from moving your phone number. Users have built huge amounts of time with (Facebook)… and they lock up your information.”

He has repeated;y asserted on his views that, Facebook has been practicing unethical business practices that have led to the formation of an internet monopoly. In a statement released by Power.com, it stated,

“Power.com believes in a borderless Internet where users have the right to control their own data.”

As of now Power.com has over 8 million members and encompasses high profile social networking websites such as Twitter, MySpace, LinkIn, HI5 and Orkut.

Via Tech2.