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EU Targets Facebook's Ad System

Posted by Soulskill on from the subtract-those-ads dept.

redletterdave writes "The European Commission plans to put a stop to the way Facebook gathers information about its users, including their political opinions, religious beliefs, whereabouts and sexual preferences, and how the social network sells that information for commercial purposes. A new EC Directive aims to ban targeted advertising unless users specifically allow it, and to amend the current European data protection laws to ensure consistency in how offending sites are dealt with across the EU. If the European Commission has its way, Facebook would suffer big losses in advertising dollars that fund its site, which would further damage the company's plans to go public next year. Facebook has defended itself, claiming its advertisers target wide demographics like age and location, rather than specific individuals. The Palo Alto, Calif.-based company denies outright that it misuses or mishandles user information."

7 of 170 comments (clear)

  1. those europeans... by clavo-t · · Score: 5, Funny

    Those Europeans doesn't understand the right of an American company to do what they want wherever they want

  2. You can opt out by Moheeheeko · · Score: 5, Funny
    under options>settings>some data>settings options>options settings>user data>user data settings>user data settings options>ad's data>ad's data options

    Is that hard?

  3. It's ironic that in "socialist" Europe... by forkfail · · Score: 5, Insightful

    ... steps are taken to ensure that Big Brother doesn't get too big.

    While here in the US, those who most love to cite Orwell also tend to want there to be no limits to what corporations can do, even when it's the corporations (far more so than the government) that are filling the power niches.

    --
    Check your premises.
  4. Re:More info here by rainmouse · · Score: 5, Interesting

    If they keep this up I might join you. The USA will probably make facebook accounts mandatory so the NSA can track us better.

    Yes despite all the terrible press the EU gets especially in the UK, there are some nice things coming out of it like forcing mobile phone companies to all use mini-usb chargers. Sometimes I wish England would stop dicking about in EU and actually commit to something bigger than themselves for reasons other than personal greed.

  5. Re:Why would FB care anyhow? by dave420 · · Score: 5, Informative

    You don't have a clue about the EC if you claim that. Stop reading the Daily Mail and start reading actual newspapers.

  6. Re:The Internet should not be regulated by forkfail · · Score: 5, Interesting

    What about Facebook's constantly morphing privacy and security policies? How can the user protect their data from that?

    --
    Check your premises.
  7. You're not facebook's customer people... by drachenfyre · · Score: 5, Insightful

    Seriously. If you aren't paying for it, you aren't the customer. You're the product being sold.