"The recent report that Facebook is accessing far more personal information of smartphone users than previously reported, including health and other sensitive data, represents an invasion of privacy and breach of consumer trust. According to the report, a wide range of apps are sending highly personal data to the social media giant apparently without users' consent and even when users are not logged in through Facebook. This practice, which in some cases clearly violates Facebook's own business terms, is an outrageous abuse of privacy.

"New Yorkers deserve to know that their personal information is safe, and we must hold internet companies - no matter how big - responsible for upholding the law and protecting the information of smartphone users. I am directing the New York Department of State, in partnership with the Department of Financial Services and other state agencies, to immediately investigate this invasion of consumer privacy and I also call on relevant federal regulators to step up and help us put an end to this practice and protect the rights of consumers."