Belgian justice today ordered Facebook to stop, within 48 hours, "monitoring" Internet users without their consent, threatening that otherwise it would impose a fine of 250.000 euros per day on the company.
This decision, taken by the Dutch Court of First Instance in Brussels, concerns users who are not members of the US social networking site and who, unlike those who have a Facebok account, have not given their approval to the company to collect the their data.
The Belgian Commission for the Protection of the Private Life (CPVP) has been brought to justice.
The judge "ordered the social networking site Facebook to stop monitoring and recording the use of the internet by people connected to it from Belgium, within 48 hours after the announcement of this decision" to the interested parties, said in a statement the court. "If Facebook ignores this order, it will have to pay 250.000 euros every 24 hours in favor of CPVP," the statement added.
The judge's decision concerns the recording by Facebook of the so-called "cookies", of the little ones files that websites use to "recognize" their users, keeping their data. Facebook keeps cookies that record a user when they visit a page of theirs—for example, a friend's "wall"—as well as their other "activities" if they have visited any electronic store, the page of a political party or any other, the court explained.
"Thus, they maintain cookies for the possible interests and preferences of internet users. These cookies are kept for two years and Facebook can consult them every time a user visits a Facebook page or a website from which he can like or suggest (the content of the website) to other Facebook users ", the decision continues.
The judge held that these are personal data that the Facebook it may only use them if the user gives his consent, as provided for in the Belgian legislation on the protection of privacy.
"If the user maintains a Facebook account, we can accept that he has given his consent, but if he does not have a Facebook account, then Facebook should in the future clearly ask for his permission and give the necessary explanations" , the judge concluded.
Source: Mouse
