Facebook German privacy case referred to European Court
The German Federal Court on Thursday referred a lawsuit
filed by a consumer protection watchdog alleging privacy violations by Facebook
(FB.O) to the Court of Justice of the European Union to seek clarification on
the applicable law.
The long-running case, brought by the Federation of German
Consumer Organisations (vzbv), alleged that the social network had allowed
operators of online games to improperly collect the personal data of people who
played them.
Facebook declined to comment on the court statement pending
the release of a full written judgment.
A lower court ruled in favor of the vzbv and Facebook
appealed the decision.
In its written ruling, the Federal Court said it was
suspending the case to seek advice from the European Court as interpretations
of the applicable law varied.
“This question is disputed both in court judgments and in
the literature,” the court, based in Karlsruhe, said in a statement.
At issue were online games offered on Facebook’s App Center
back in 2012 in which, by playing them, a user automatically agreed to share personal
data including their email address.
At the end of the game, users would see a message saying
that the app could post their status, photos and other information.
Such games - including quizzes - were widely used at the
time to harvest data on users of Facebook. The company subsequently overhauled
its privacy settings, although they have continued to be a source of
controversy.
The European Union’s two-year-old privacy rulebook, the
General Data Protection Regulation (GDPR), stipulates that any requests to
collect personal data should be subject to clear, informed consent.
However it is not clear, according to the Karlsruhe court,
whether organisations that can bring litigation under national law have the
necessary standing to press their case under the GDPR. It is seeking
clarification on this matter of principle.
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