In the latest legal trouble for tech giants in the EU, Facebook is facing investigations and now a lawsuit from the Belgian Privacy Authority. They are alleging that the practice of cookie-based tracking for non-Facebook European users through social buttons or plug-ins is violating their privacy. There are other complaints as well cited in the suit.
The litigation that is taking place is set to establish jurisdiction over Facebook in Belgium as well as create additional negotiating power for the regulators in that country.
Facebook’s European operations are based out of Ireland and believes that the Irish Data Protection Commissioner has jurisdiction in these types of cases. Not surprisingly, the agencies in Belgium and other EU countries disagree. This case, and others like it, are set to look at the matter and see what the courts say.
While this case is going on, the EU member states are drafting new data-protection laws that will provide for a more uniform set of rules throughout Europe. These additional privacy regulations are opposed by most US tech companies.
While this specific case is specifically about Facebook, it could have some long term impact on other companies including Google, Twitter, Microsoft as well as many smaller companies that do business in the EU.
