Student Group Claims Victory in Privacy Fight Against Facebook -Circles Tech
The Austrian law student who famously forced Facebook to release 1,222 pages of data kept on file about him remains a thorn in Facebook'...
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The Austrian law student who famously forced Facebook to release 1,222 pages of data kept on file about him remains a thorn in Facebook's side.
Max Schrems' activist group, Europe v. Facebook, scored another small victory against the social networking giant on Thursday. It received the go-ahead from an Irish court to keep challenging Facebook's role in the NSA's top secret Internet surveillance program PRISM, which was revealed by Edward Snowden this summer.
In June, Schrems, who also forced Facebook to abandon photo-tagging suggestions for European users last year, filed a complaint with the Irish Data Protection Commissioner (DPC), arguing that Facebook's cooperation with the NSA's PRISM program breached European data protection lawsby illegally exporting data to its American parent company.
The DPC, however, didn't see it that way — and rejected the claim. At the time, the commissioner said there was "nothing to investigate."
The High Court in Ireland will now review (.PDF) the DPC's decision, and unless the watchdog investigates the group's claims, the case will go to trial, Reuters reported.
Since some of the biggest U.S. Internet companies have European headquarters in Ireland, including Facebook, the Irish data watchdog serves as the European Union's privacy supervisor.
This case could set a dangerous precedent for Internet companies.
Schrems declared victory and said that the decision is just the beginning.
"I am sure this will lead to an order that the DPC has to take action on PRISM," he told Mashable via email. "We are hoping that the High Court will clarify that the DPC has a duty to enforce the rights of users and cannot simply run away from complicated situations."
A Facebook spokesperson said that the company has "no comment on this matter."
Supported by crowdfunding, Schrems' group is also challenging other companies' roles in PRISM. They filed complaints in Luxembourg against Skype and Microsoft, and in Germany against Yahoo.
Have something to add to this story? Share it in the comments.
Max Schrems' activist group, Europe v. Facebook, scored another small victory against the social networking giant on Thursday. It received the go-ahead from an Irish court to keep challenging Facebook's role in the NSA's top secret Internet surveillance program PRISM, which was revealed by Edward Snowden this summer.
In June, Schrems, who also forced Facebook to abandon photo-tagging suggestions for European users last year, filed a complaint with the Irish Data Protection Commissioner (DPC), arguing that Facebook's cooperation with the NSA's PRISM program breached European data protection lawsby illegally exporting data to its American parent company.
The DPC, however, didn't see it that way — and rejected the claim. At the time, the commissioner said there was "nothing to investigate."
The High Court in Ireland will now review (.PDF) the DPC's decision, and unless the watchdog investigates the group's claims, the case will go to trial, Reuters reported.
Since some of the biggest U.S. Internet companies have European headquarters in Ireland, including Facebook, the Irish data watchdog serves as the European Union's privacy supervisor.
This case could set a dangerous precedent for Internet companies.
This case could set a dangerous precedent for Internet companies.
Schrems declared victory and said that the decision is just the beginning.
"I am sure this will lead to an order that the DPC has to take action on PRISM," he told Mashable via email. "We are hoping that the High Court will clarify that the DPC has a duty to enforce the rights of users and cannot simply run away from complicated situations."
A Facebook spokesperson said that the company has "no comment on this matter."
Supported by crowdfunding, Schrems' group is also challenging other companies' roles in PRISM. They filed complaints in Luxembourg against Skype and Microsoft, and in Germany against Yahoo.
Have something to add to this story? Share it in the comments.
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