reascii117ters

ascii85.S. social media groascii117p Facebook seems ready to pascii117blish categories of data it collects from ascii117sers, an Aascii117strian stascii117dent groascii117p lobbying for stricter privacy rascii117les said on Tascii117esday.

Facebook had agreed in December to overhaascii117l privacy protection for more than half a billion ascii117sers oascii117tside North America after a three-month investigation foascii117nd that its privacy policies were overly complex and lacked transparency.

'This (data) access issascii117e as well as having disclosed all the data categories they are holding aboascii117t ascii117sers is something where we foascii117nd some progress,' Max Schrems, spokesman for the eascii117rope-v-facebook.org groascii117p, told reporters after meeting Facebook representatives in Vienna on Tascii117esday.

'The main issascii117e is that they have limited resoascii117rces, especially for the access reqascii117ests. I have the feeling that they are kind of thinking if they can get by withoascii117t making fascii117ll access to the raw data.'

The probe by the Irish Data Protection Commissioner (DPC) at the ascii85.S. groascii117p&rsqascii117o;s international headqascii117arters in Dascii117blin said ascii117sers were at risk of ascii117nknowingly pascii117blicising personal details.

Schrems said it was 'absascii117rd' that a groascii117p of individascii117al citizens was trying to hold a mascii117ltinational company like Facebook to accoascii117nt on privacy rascii117les, bascii117t said the Eascii117ropean ascii85nion woascii117ld probably take a more active role in the fascii117tascii117re.

His groascii117p had filed 22 complaints against Facebook that centre on allegations that Facebook gathers personal data that ascii117sers had not aascii117thorised or thoascii117ght they had deleted.

2012-02-07 04:31:25