Austrian student pressure group Europe vs Facebook is to begin legal action against the social network over its failure to implement recommendations from an audit conducted by the Office of the Data Protection Commissioner (ODPC) released last September.
The group today issued a 70-page response to the ODPC’s audit report and its series of non-legally binding recommendations cited 22 specific instances where its concerns had not been dealt with.
The ODPC findings, which were not legally binding, led to Facebook dropping its controversial facial recognition photo tagging software for EU users, limiting data retention periods for certain kinds of information and changing the network’s global privacy policy.
As Facebook’s European operation is based in Ireland it must be sued in the Irish courts before the case can progress to the European courts.
In a press release announcing its intention sue Facebook in a class action suit, Europe v Facebook founder Max Schrems wrote: "The work by the Irish authority has led to many important steps in the right direction… After a detailed analysis of the audit documents it became clear that the authority has taken very important first steps, but that it has not always delivered accurate and correct results… We have strictly followed the opinions of the comity of the EU data protection authorities (Article 29 Working Party). The Irish authority’s interpretation is often contrary to the rest of the EU."
Europe versus Facebook had advised users to request a copy of their personal data as held by the website, which it was required to supply under Irish law. According to the group, however, of the 40,000 people who applied for their information to be sent on (either via CD or pdf) only 13 received it within the statutory 40-day period.
To finance the campaign a crowd funding platform has been set up with a target of €300,000 to fund the entire process, based on expected donations of €20 from 15,000 supporters.
In other privacy-related news, a court in California has given preliminary approval to a class settlement over the unauthorised use of user likenesses to promote ‘sponsored stories’ without prior consent. A further hearing on the case is expected next June where pressure groups are expected to argue for the introduction of a mechanism whereby users can opt out of receiving what was referred to as "a new form of advertising" by the Children’s Advocacy Institute and the Center for Public Interest Law. Plaintiffs shouldn’t get too excited about the possibility of a big payout, however. After legal costs are accounted for, it’s unlikely any of the class will receive more than a few cents for their troubles.
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