Belgium hauls Facebook to court over excessive tracking
Belgium's privacy watchdog has sued Facebook, following through on a threat it made last month. It claimed at the time that the social network "tramples on European and Belgian privacy laws," and demanded that it make changes to avoid legal action. Its main concern was not the tracking of logged-in Facebook users, but the privacy invasion of non-users on unrelated sites with Facebook "cookies" and other trackers. "These recommendations are chiefly aimed at protecting internet users who are not Facebook members," said the commission's president.
For its part, Facebook called the lawsuit "theatrical," because it was already planning to meet the commission this Friday to discuss its recommendations. It did strike a conciliatory tone, however, saying that while "we are confident that there is no merit to the case,we remain happy to work with them in an effort to resolve their concerns." The commission has asked the judge to order Facebook to stop tracking non-users via cookies and other means, despite the fact that there are questions over jurisdiction and other issues. It's worth noting that the EU and member countries have often prevailed when it comes to privacy, however.
