Efamro: Ireland’s Data Protection Commissioner to investigate Facebook

The social networking giant Facebook, which has 800m users worldwide, is to face an audit by the Data Protection Commissioner, Ireland’s authority on privacy, following complaints about the site. Facebook employs close to 300 people in Ireland’s capital city.

Lobby group Europe Versus Facebook has lodged 22 complaints with the Data Protection Commissioner, including that ‘Pokes’ are being kept after the user removes them, the alleged existence of shadow profiles that gather information and are used to create profiles of non-users, and excessive processing of data.

Other complaints relate to Facebook’s face-recognition technology, the use of the ‘Like’ button as a way to track users over the internet, and an allegation that Facebook is only deleting the link to pictures when users delete them and that the pictures remain public on the internet.

It is understood that the Data Protection Commission will examine all of Facebook’s activities outside the US and Canada. Facebook’s Dublin headquarters are responsible for all users outside the US and Canada.

The Data Protection Commission will publish its findings at the end of the year.

EFAMRO comments:
Section 19 of Facebook’s Statement of Rights and Responsibilities provides:

If you are a resident of or have your principal place of business in the US or Canada, this Statement is an agreement between you and Facebook, Inc. Otherwise, this Statement is an agreement between you and Facebook Ireland Limited. References to "us," "we," and "our" mean either Facebook, Inc. or Facebook Ireland Limited, as appropriate.

Europe versus Facebook have lodged their complaints against Facebook Ireland Limited, an Irish registered company. Recently, the Data Protection Authority in Schleswig-Holstein has declared that Facebook’s social plug-in system (its "Like" buttons on websites for example) is in violation of German Law.© efamro 2011 2

The full details of the complaints are available HERE