New EU Privacy Laws Could Hit Facebook

Technologies such as social networking, RFID, and even airport scanning have raced ahead of Europe's outdated data protection rules. Brussels aims to fix that

By Leigh Phillips

Two weeks ago, Mark Zuckerberg, the founder of social networking site Facebook told the world to just get over it—no one cares about privacy anymore—provoking a storm of protest across cyberspace.

On Thursday (28 January), the European Commission responded to the 24-year-old billionaire and announced plans for comprehensive new laws that have in their sights the massively popular website.

The commission is concerned that its existing rules on data protection date back to 1995, the very early days of what was at the time called the "information superhighway" and are extraordinarily out of date. Brussels is not just worried that the internet has sped ahead of its regulatory grasp, but also that many technologies, in particular Radio Frequency Identification (RFID), behavioural advertising and even airport security devices have proceeded apace, leaving EU legislation in the lurch.

The commission on Thursday, also the continent's official Data Protection Day, "warned that data protection rules must be updated to keep abreast of technological change to ensure the right to privacy."

Underscoring its new powers under the Lisbon Treaty and the legal basis given to the Charter of Fundamental Rights, the commission said it wants to create "a clear, modern set of rules" guaranteeing a high level of personal data protection and privacy.

Earlier legislation was also limited in that it was restricted to issues concerning the European Community—the so-called first pillar of the EU, but not foreign policy or policing and judicial affairs—the second and third pillars.

Mentioning Facebook, Myspace (NWS) and Twitter by name, EU Justice Commissioner Viviane Reding said she will start this year with a revision of the 1995 Data Protection Directive, in a speech that outlined the main principles and goals of her upcoming work as Europe's top fundamental rights watchdog. It is clear that privacy issues are at the forefront of her ambitions.

"Innovation is important in today's society but should not go at the expense of people's fundamental right to privacy," she said.

"Whether we want it or not, almost every day we share personal data about ourselves. These data are collected, processed and then stored out of our sight. By booking a flight ticket, transferring money, applying for a job or just using the Internet we are exposing our private lives to others. Sometimes it is necessary," she continued. "Data are being collected without our consent and often without our knowledge. This is where European law comes in."

She said that people should have the right "to say no…whenever they want."

The commissioner is frustrated that companies are tackling privacy issues—or, more commonly being forced to tackle privacy issues—only after a product or service has been developed.

"We need a change of approach: Businesses must use their power of innovation to improve the protection of privacy and personal data from the very beginning of the development cycle," she said.

Ms Reding finished by saying that Europe must set the global agenda in terms of privacy protection.

The commissioner also warned that body scanners at airports have not escaped her gaze. "I am convinced that body scanners have a considerable privacy-invasive potential. Their usefulness is still to be proven. Their impact on health has not yet been fully assessed. Therefore I cannot imagine this privacy-intrusive technique being imposed on us without full consideration of its impact."

The forceful speech comes just two weeks after Facebook's CEO made his own speech at the Consumer Electronics Show in Las Vegas, which has been widely interpreted as announcing "the end of privacy."

"People have really gotten comfortable not only sharing more information and different kinds, but more openly and with more people. That social norm is just something that's evolved over time," Mr Zuckerberg said in a speech on 11 January, referring to the company's recent privacy policy change that made user's main information accessible by default. He described these changes as merely reflecting "current social norms" wherein young people have a much more relaxed attitude to privacy.

Across the Atlantic on Wednesday, Canada's privacy commissioner also announced a fresh investigation of Facebook after receiving complaints about the company's new privacy policy.

Source: Business Week

Facebook backtracks on privacy

By Maija Palmer and Tim Bradshaw in London and David Gelles in San Francisco, published on December 11, 2009

FACEBOOK has been forced to retreat on some changes to its privacy settings after the move created an outcry from data protection campaigners and left users confused and irate.

The social networking site rolled out simplified privacy controls to its 350m users this week, but faced a barrage of complaints that the new settings were leading users to reveal more information than they wanted to.

Users were particularly critical of the way Facebook opted to make “friend lists” – the catalogue of all the people users are connected to on the site – visible to the public.

Facebook quickly backtracked on that on Thursday night, allowing users to hide the information if they wished.

Richard Alan, Facebook’s director of policy for Europe, would not rule out further tweaks to the settings in response to the public outcry.

“We have people monitoring comments from blog posts and all the feedback is going back to the team. They are still looking at it,” he said.

This is the latest privacy controversy for Facebook, which was forced to scrap a targeted advertising programme in 2007 and which came under scrutiny by the Canadian Privacy Commission last summer.

The Facebook blog page was flooded with thousands of comments asking how to put the new privacy settings to work.

“I was very confused by the new privacy settings on Facebook,” said Megan Brown, a lawyer in New York City. “When I logged on, it asked me whether I wanted my old settings or new settings. I didn’t know what the old settings were, so I was unable to make an informed decision.”

Chris Applegate, a Cambridge computer science graduate who works at We Are Social, an agency dispensing advice about sites such as Facebook, was dismayed to discover that applications installed by his friends could see his data unless he chose to opt out, an option not given in Facebook’s latest reminder.

“I’ve always kept a tight rein on the apps I install. But it only takes one friend to install a malicious app and . . . my information is compromised,” he said. “There is a great potential for leakage.”

Several protest groups have been formed on the site, with titles such as “Stop Facebook from exposing our privacy. Restore security now!” and “We want the old privacy settings back!!”

Facebook insisted the change enhanced rather than detracted from privacy. It said that previously only 15-20 per cent of users had made any adjustments to their privacy settings. Yet, following the roll-out this week, 50 per cent of users had made changes.

“Millions [of users] have picked new settings and are comfortable with it,” Mr Alan said.

Source: Financial Times

Users Warned of Following Facebook Privacy Recommendations

Boston, MA - infoZine - IT security and data protection firm Sophos has warned Facebook users of the dangers of blindly following Facebook's new privacy settings.


Facebook has announced a dramatic change to the privacy options, encouraging its 350 million users to share more information with everybody on the internet. However, Sophos warns that some users may not be aware that Facebook's recommendations include third party search engines and external websites, and changes to privacy settings that they may have previously enabled to better protect themselves from identity thieves.


These could be the most important clicks you ever make on Facebook," said Graham Cluley, senior technology consultant at Sophos. "If you don't read carefully you could find that every post you make on Facebook, and your personal information, is visible to everyone in the world who has a computer rather than just your Facebook friends."


"Let's make this clear. If you make your information available to "everyone", it actually means "everyone, forever". Because even if you change your mind, it's too late - and although Facebook say they will remove it from your profile they will have no control about how it is used outside of Facebook," added Cluley.


"There's one very simple rule you should follow - if you don't want everyone in the world to read it, don't post it on the internet," continued Cluley. "If you dig around on Facebook you can find out what the privacy changes mean. The problem is that most people won't bother reading and simply follow Facebook's recommendations without understanding how a split-second decision could hit them hard in the future."


Watch video


Read more at infoZine.com