Facebook Data Collection Under Fire Again

JohnBert writes "A German privacy protection authority is calling on organizations there to close their Facebook fan pages and remove the social networking site's 'Like' button from their websites, arguing that Facebook harvests data in violation of German and European Union law. The Independent Centre for Privacy Protection (ULD), the privacy protection agency for the German state of Schleswig-Holstein, issued a news release on Friday saying Facebook builds a broad, individualized profile for people who view Facebook content on third-party websites. Data is sent back to Facebook's servers in the U.S., which the agency alleges violates the German Telemedia Act, the German Federal Data Protection Act and the Data Protection Act of Schleswig-Holstein. The agency alleges the data is held by Facebook for two years, and wants website owners in the state to remove links to Facebook by the end of next month or possibly face a fine."

Comments

Very sensible, methinks.

[tqk]

The agency alleges the data is held by Facebook for two years, and wants website owners in the state to remove links to Facebook by the end of next month or possibly face a fine.

I whole heartedly agree. No controversy seen from here, whatsoever.

"Social networking" (a la FB) is a gross (as in, makes me want to puke) application of technology.

He's right. Get out now, and never go back. This is not the web you wanted. This is the web *they* wanted. Don't go there, or accept you'll be owned, ultimately.

Re:Very sensible, methinks.

[Anonymous Coward]

They do not ban linking to facebook because they do not like it.
They ban providing Facebook (throught the "like", "become a fan", ... links) with information that they WILLINGLY and KNOWINGLY are not handling according to the rules and regulations in Germany.
In other words: they are banning sites from cooperating with illegal actions. And I do not see the problem in that, because as far as I know that is already illegal.

Re:Very sensible, methinks.

[Anonymous Coward]

"Banning linking to -legal- websites now, just because we don't like it? Geez."

Try again.
This is in Germany, and only applies to websites that are hosted in Germany.
In Germany, Facebook would not be able to be hosted because Facebooks datamining systems are ILLEGAL in Germany. They violate privacy laws and violate laws that describe how, where, and when, personal/private information may be transmitted.
Since Facebook is NOT hosted in Germany, the German government can't touch Facebook itself and are not trying.
However, any websites that ARE hosted in Germany must work within German law, and since those "like" buttons transmit your private/personal/legally-protected information to a datamining system in another country... those "like" buttons violate German data privacy laws and are thus ILLEGAL for any sites hosted in Germany to use.

For once in the history of the world... I am agreeing with a government using "censorship" in order to protect mentally-deficient citizens from having all of their private/personal/protected information stolen from them and used in scams that target those very same citizens.

Re:Very sensible, methinks.

[codegen]

Read the story. Or even read the summary. They are not banning links to facebook. If the sites had a <a href="http//www.facebook.com> link on their page, the government would not care. What they care about is that javascript snippet that collects user information about you and your friends when you visit the page and sends it back to facebook, whether you click on the "like" button or not. The EU in general and Germany in particular have strong rules about what information a corporation is allowed to collect and retain about you. Facebook breaks the rules.

I wish my government was as strong. You can say, "don't" go to such websites, but so many sites have opted into facebook's koolaid, that it would be a limited web indeed. Competition only works when you have a real choice.

Get a proxy

[whereiswaldo]

I've been running a web proxy at home for awhile now and the more I review the logs, the more I see that the entire WWW is a massive data collection engine. Trying to keep up with blocks is like playing whack-a-mole (albeit similarly satisfying).

I agree with their call to action to have FaceBook links removed, but I'd also add that this is only the tip of the iceberg.

Re:Is this the government's job, though?

[JordanL]

But this is only half of the intellectual conversation on the topic. This position only holds as a moral position if people are informed BEFORE they ever visit a website what information their browser and computer will provide to that site, because by the time you click and see a like button, it's done. You did not get to make an informed choice.

Your position would only solve the moral conundrum if it was instead legally forced for every website to somehow convey their collection levels before ever collected.

Facebook not only doesn't do this, they actively provide disinformation on the subject. As Facebook is not subject to German law in THAT sense, the most consistently just thing the government can do in this case is prevent the websites within their country from participating in a foreign company that will never comply with the law you have written regarding the freedom of self-determination.

If websites warned users before actually being served a webpage that there was a Facebook like button, and that button would lead to a violation of their Constitutional rights as citizens of that government, it might be acceptable.

But even then, you are capitulating within your own rights as citizens for the sake of "private property". Or rather, you are allowing the idea of closed ownership of something to supercede what you believe as a society is inherently true about being human.

Re:Is this the government's job, though?

[oreaq]

You are missing something: In Germany you own your personal information. Facebook is not allowed to store or use your personal information without your consent. The facebook "Like" button is not just a link, it's a javascript program that sends personal information to Facebook.