Despite audit, Facebook holds back personal data
Facebook has reduced the amount of personal data it releases to users as required by European Union law despite an ongoing audit by Ireland's Data Protection Commissioner.
The agency is auditing Facebook to see if it complies with the country's Data Protection Acts of 1988 and 2003, which transpose the E.U.'s Data Protection Directive, known as 95/46/EC. The laws allow people to request to see their personal data held by a company.
Twenty-two complaints have been filed with the Irish agency by Europe v. Facebook, a group run by Max Schrems, a law student at the University of Vienna. The group contends Facebook is withholding personal data that it should disclose to users on request, in violation of the law. Since those complaints were filed, the Irish agency has received 150 additional complaints about Facebook's response to data requests and 10 complaints over the company's approach to data protection, wrote Lisa McGann, a senior investigations officer, in an e-mail to IDG News Service on Tuesday.
