Wednesday, March 7, 2012

Facebook Loses German Ruling Over Friend Finder’s Use of E-Mails

Matussek, Karen. "Facebook Loses German Ruling Over Friend Finder’s Use of E-Mails." Bloomberg Businessweek, March 6, 2012.

From the article:  "Facebook Inc. lost a ruling in Germany over using the e-mail addresses of people who aren’t members of its social network. A Berlin court found Facebook doesn’t adequately inform members that all e-mail addresses imported by its “Friend Finder” function will be used to contact others, even if they aren’t members of its network, German consumer group Verbraucherzentrale Bundesverband, which won the ruling, said on its website today. The judges criticized the company saying users are “lured” into disclosing those addresses, it said. … The court also said Facebook improperly required users in its general terms to grant the company licenses for the free use of all content posted on their pages and to agree to data processing for publicity, the consumer group said." Read more