Pierluigi Paganini
March 02, 2015
There is a recent report from Belgium focusing on the revised terms of use that have to do with Facebook. Due to its enormous popularity even apart from the fact that it’s blocked in some countries and being accessed by some tools (it shows everyone out there wants to get it, no matter how much effort it requires), Facebook has drawn attention universally and with the ongoing problems emerging thanks to vague statements in previous versions of the terms of use and policies the phenomenon has not calmed down. In order to be kept up to date with the latest version of Facebook’s policies, the report was issued raising awareness to everyone, even in a provisional manner.
In response to the revisions announced last December and performed a month later, the report is in accordance to what seems to be the case legally with Facebook to this date. According to the professionals, what has led them to proceed with the report was the following: “In December 2014, Facebook announced that it would revise
“In December 2014, Facebook announced that it would revise its Data Use Policy and Terms of Service. At the request of the Belgian Privacy Commission, ICRI/CIR (KU Leuven), in cooperation with iMinds-SMIT (Vrije Universiteit Brussel) conducted an extensive analysis of Facebook’s revised policies and terms.” So, you can see that there is great concern on behalf of some European governments and their commissions , the Belgian Privacy Commission) to shed light to the privacy and freedom concerns of Facebook.
What seems to raise suspicions and a great deal of concern about the rights of Facebook and its extensive data process is the fact that there are some policies that are of questionable legality within the European Union (EU) and the respective legislation. To be more specific:
“Facebook’s data processing capabilities have increased both horizontally and vertically. By horizontal we refer to the increase of data gathered from different sources. Vertical refers to the deeper and more detailed view Facebook has on its users.”
This has been a result of the cooperation of Facebook with some other companies and services, such as Instagram or Whatsapp. Due to the purchase of these services by Facebook and due to the acknowledgement that a lot of plugins are used by them, it makes total sense why Facebook feels that it is high time it backed its legal rights up properly.
According to the report, there are problems and potential red flags with the Unfair Contract Terms Directive. This Directive “introduces a notion of “good faith” in order to prevent significant imbalances in the rights and obligations of consumers on the one hand and sellers and suppliers on the other hand.”
So, you can see that there are several points that need to be discussed further towards outlining the vulnerabilities of the privacy policy of Facebook. It is crucial that all the users are thoroughly informed on what they agree to upon subscribing to Facebook.
This can result in a much better handling of their privacy as a whole. So, reports like the one that we have referred to here are certainly moving towards the desired direction.
Written by: Ali Qamar, Founder/Chief Editor at SecurityGladiators.com
Author Bio:
Ali Qamar is an Internet security research enthusiast who enjoys “deep” research to dig out modern discoveries in the security industry. He is the founder and chief editor at Security Gladiators, an ultimate source for cyber security. To be frank and honest, Ali started working online as a freelancer and still shares the knowledge for a living. He is passionate about sharing the knowledge with people, and always try to give only the best. Follow Ali on Twitter @AliQammar57
(Security Affairs – Facebook, policies)
