Switching to Facebook?
Saturday, 20. September 2008, 04:16:57
The Danish Ministry of Health's prevention commission is concerned about the legality of Facebook. The commission wants to know if the personal information posted on a person's profile is covered under Danish law when users log onto the Danish version of the website, or by California law, where the Facebook company is registered.
Facebook has around 700,000 Danish users, all of whom have agreed to the Facebook terms of use.
The terms and conditions of signing up to the website include a clause that allows for the terms to be changed without any notice to the user. The user also loses any right to the information they post of their personal profile.
Anette Høyrup, a lawyer with the commission, said that by agreeing to this condition, a user is giving Facebook the right to save and use personal information in the future, even if the user has removed it from their profile page.
This means that the things you write can haunt you many years later, without you being able to do anything about it. This term is in clear conflict with Danish personal data laws, because in Denmark it is illegal to save information about people for ever and use it commercially behind their backs.
Google faced harsh criticism when it was discovered that its new browser was launched with similarly dubious data protection terms and conditions as Facebook’s. Google later announced that it is changing the terms to offer consumers more privacy, and the prevention commission has urged Facebook to do the same.
I think I'll just stay here at MyOpera.
Facebook has around 700,000 Danish users, all of whom have agreed to the Facebook terms of use.
The terms and conditions of signing up to the website include a clause that allows for the terms to be changed without any notice to the user. The user also loses any right to the information they post of their personal profile.
Anette Høyrup, a lawyer with the commission, said that by agreeing to this condition, a user is giving Facebook the right to save and use personal information in the future, even if the user has removed it from their profile page.
This means that the things you write can haunt you many years later, without you being able to do anything about it. This term is in clear conflict with Danish personal data laws, because in Denmark it is illegal to save information about people for ever and use it commercially behind their backs.
Google faced harsh criticism when it was discovered that its new browser was launched with similarly dubious data protection terms and conditions as Facebook’s. Google later announced that it is changing the terms to offer consumers more privacy, and the prevention commission has urged Facebook to do the same.
I think I'll just stay here at MyOpera.
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