Policy Observatory
The European Union’s data protection authorities are getting serious about issues with Facebook’s new privacy policy. They have formed a task force which will deal with part of the policy that could very well violate EU privacy laws.
The task force was formed on Tuesday during a meeting of European data protection authorities and will be led by Belgium, the Netherlands, Germany and perhaps Italy, said the spokeswoman for Bart Tommelein, Belgium’s state secretary for privacy. The data protection authorities (DPAs) for instance take issue with Facebook’s practice of following its users off site, collecting information when they use third-party websites and apps that use a Facebook “like” button, a Facebook log-in or Facebook’s measurement and advertising services. What’s more, the authorities don’t like Facebook claiming the right to use information and photos from user profiles for commercial purposes and take issue with Facebook sharing personal user data with third parties, she said.