From September on all websites operating in the state of Schleswig-Holstein the "Like" button will have to disappear, under penalty of a fine of up to 50 thousand dollars. This was established by the Privacy Authority which considers the use of the plugin to be contrary to current legislation (the Telemedia Law) in force in Germany and in the European Union. Firstly, because every time you click on the "like" button, the data is recorded and remains in the database for two years. Consequence not known to most people who press that key. Secondly, because the information is transferred to the United States and is thus excluded from local jurisdiction.
Thilo Weichert, guarantor of privacy, pointed out that European legislation is also violated, not just the German one, and that therefore measures must be taken at a wider level. For its part, Facebook reiterated that it was acting within the European regulatory framework and declared that the data remain in storage for 90 days and are then permanently deleted from their servers.
It is not the first time that Germany has raised its voice in the name of privacy protection. Last year, Berlin had banned the filming of Google Street view, sparking quite a few controversies.
The fear is that the next step is to have the fan pages of companies and institutions deleted from Facebook. But the passage on social networks is the new frontier of digital communication so jurists will certainly have more trouble to pass similar legislation in the future.
Source: Financial Times Deutschland
