German state Schleswig-Holstein’s head of the independent data protection center is taking aim at Facebook's "Like" — or Gefällt mir in German — button.
His claim is that websites that use the button are illegally sending this data to Facebook, writes Silicon Filter. Facebook, in turn, uses that information to illegally create a profile of its users web habits. Citing both German and EU privacy laws, Weichert is demanding that websites in the state remove the ‘like’ button by the end of September. If not, a fine of or up to €50,000 could be levied, according to The Local.
How Quickly Such Issues Can Spread
Marketers that are increasingly basing their strategies on Facebook and its Like button have cause to be alarmed. While this is, for the moment, limited to one state, such issues have a tendency to take on national, and then pan-European scope. A regional court in Germany recently granted Apple’s request for a preliminary injunction against the Samsung Galaxy Tab based on claims of IP infringement. The injunction was initially against any sales of the Galaxy Tab throughout Europe. After a few days the court decided it had overreached its jurisdiction and limited the injunction to Germany. However the German unit of Samsung may not sell the Galaxy Tab anywhere in Europe.
While the two cases bear little resemblance - other than they began in Germany - they do point to how interconnected such issues can be throughout a region.
The Canada Example
The last time there was major global pushback against Face book on privacy issue was two years ago, when Facebook agreed to overhaul its policies following an an investigation by the Office of the Privacy Commissioner of Canada. It concluded that the social networking site's policies posed significant risks. Facebook would have been within its right to limit the changes to just Canada but instead it rolled them out to its entire global user base.
"It is not uncommon for online service providers to set different policies in different countries in order to comply with the differences in various national laws,” David Wong, an attorney with Barnes & Thornburg, told TechNewsWorld at the time. However Canada was the first to complete a comprehensive investigation into Facebook’s policies at the time - and similar ones were underway by European regulators and the Australian Office of the Privacy Commissioner.
Facebook, so the speculation went at the time, probably decided it was easier to roll out the changes all at once.
