German courts rule Facebook 'friend finder' unlawful

[StevieTNZ]

An interesting case, and outcome: http://www.theguardian.com/world/2016/jan/14/germany-highest-court-facebook-friend-finder-unlawful

Thoughts?

 

[Greg Bernhardt]

So facebook will just disable the feature for German users right?

 

[StevieTNZ]

So facebook will just disable the feature for German users right?

It may. In the article "In a statement, a spokeswoman for Facebook in Germany said it was waiting to receive the formal decision and would study the findings “to assess any impact on our services”."

 

[fresh_42]

Not the "friend finder" is unlawful. Spamming all contacts of one's email account during registration with fb invitations is.

 

[Sophia]

I don't know if I personally agree that if it's so serious that if should be against the law.
But the fact is that I don't use fb very much. I only have it because some of my friends almost never use regular email and I have to have fb if I want to be in contact with them.
I post a status or a photo very rarely as I have some serious issues with its privacy policy. That's why I prefer forums like this compared to fb groups. Why do all my friends need to see what I write in a group? Once I didn't realize my friends see my post in a certain group and I got a response from them immediately. It was a positive thing but it was something I wanted to remain secret.
I think that fb was originally an innocent nice idea but it has grown into a monster.

To get back to original question, than more companies have serious problem as well. Like those annoying telemarketing companies, where do they get your phone number from? Or leaflets you get in your physical mailbox all the time. Some of the offers claiming you have won 10,000€ are even filed with your personal info like full name and address while you have NO IDEA how this company got it ! So if German court forbids fb spamming, they should also forbid these other practices. But maybe they are illegal in Germany, I don't know.

 

[Astronuc]

An interesting case, and outcome: http://www.theguardian.com/world/2016/jan/14/germany-highest-court-facebook-friend-finder-unlawful

Thoughts?

Global corporation collides with laws of nation states.

Welcome to now.

Facebook needs to hire some good German lawyers who know German federal and corporate law.

 

[mfb]

To get back to original question, than more companies have serious problem as well. Like those annoying telemarketing companies, where do they get your phone number from? Or leaflets you get in your physical mailbox all the time. Some of the offers claiming you have won 10,000€ are even filed with your personal info like full name and address while you have NO IDEA how this company got it ! So if German court forbids fb spamming, they should also forbid these other practices. But maybe they are illegal in Germany, I don't know.

Many of those things are illegal or at least of questionable legal status.
And you can write "Bitte keine Werbung einwerfen" ("no advertisements please") on your mailbox, which gets rid of most advertisement stuff.

 

[fresh_42]

Global corporation collides with laws of nation states.

The ruling was basically to protect those companies! When fb contacted non-members without permission via someone else's registration, it is considered as an unlawful advantage vis-à-vis other companies: distortion of competition.

 

[Astronuc]

"Bitte keine Werbung einwerfen" ("no advertisements please")

I like that!

 

[DiracPool]

I think that fb was originally an innocent nice idea but it has grown into a monster.

Are you kidding, it was a monster from the start, didn't you see "The social network?"