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European Privacy Regulators Take Coordinated Action Against Facebook
An anonymous reader writes: European privacy regulators from as number of countries has made a coordinated action against Facebook for violating data protection laws. The French CNIL has sanctioned Facebook with a 150,000 EUR fine, and the regulator from Netherlands is considering a similar action. Regulators are concerned with new privacy policies of Facebook, lack of transparency, cookie handling and tracking Facebook users on third-party sites -- all without user knowledge or control. Such coordinated move is unprecedented in the history of European data protection regulators.
Yep, and Google is much more deeply embedded into the fabric of the modern web. Almost every major page loads things from a bunch of Google domains, or uses their captcha system, etc. I block everything Facebook related and have noticed no adverse effects on the web, but if you block Google, a ton of things simply will not function.
You see this USA USA USA We're Number #1! shit everywhere whenever another country shows backbone to US corporate interests. I'm sure there are some people who are really that deluded, but I'm also sure that some of it is just pro-plutocracy shilling.
The European Union has a population 50% larger than the USA, an arguably larger economy (it depends on how you measure GDP, but we're happy with number 2 if that's how you want to count it) and far more potential for growth. China has four times the number of people, and is going to sail past both the EU and the US in terms of GDP in the next 5-10 years.
The USA was once the leader of the free world; now it's an international laughing stock throwing the full might of its bloated military industrial complex against every threat, real or imagined, whilst live-tweeting its own failures. Meanwhile its citizens cling to the American Dream whilst their ruling class squeezes every last dollar out of them and into their offshore accounts whilst blasting them with propaganda and vapid entertainments and convincing them that paradise is just a scratchcard away, and that their plight is because of the evil Reds/Yellows/Greens/Blacks/Irish/Italians/Jews/Muslims/Vegans/Liberal Elite/Wall Street/Whatever-it-is-this-week that they are told to be frightened of.
The USA has lots of excellent people: first class minds, talented creators, hard-working, kind and generous souls. It has awesome natural beauty, plentiful natural resources and opportunity for real and sustainable growth. But you guys are throwing all that into the meat-grinder of maximised quarterly profits, and for what? So you can watch your kid grow up poorer than you were whilst some jackass fund manager spends their retirement savings on a bigger megayacht to keep anchored off his tax haven of choice?
If I don't have an FB account, but two of my friends do, and I'm in their address books then they know who I am, and that I know these people. Since they also have my phone number they have a good idea where I live as well. FB now also knows that these two people are close, given the fact that they have a common friend.
Then keep in mind that FB has a lot of photos, and I wouldn't be surprised if they can use that information to associate a picture with people who don't have accounts. Does FB allow you to tag a photo with the name of a person who doesn't have an account?
It is well known that FB has "shadow" accounts in their system for people who are known but hasn't actually created an account yet. I certainly would like to see them stop that activity.