Germany's Facebook Ban

Last week a draft bill was backed by the German government limiting the use of Facebook by employers when hiring new staff. The proposed legislation will still allow employers to consult other social websites that make job information and networking public, such as LinkedIn or Xing. However, if an employer was to “befriend” an employee or hack into their account to access private data, with the intention to use the information against them, the employer could expect a fine of up to €300,000.

This development comes off the back of a number of workplace scandals that have recently surfaced. Deutsche Telekom (telecommunications company), Deutsche Bahn (national railway) and Lidl (retailer) are amongst the highest profile employers involved. The bill still faces a final debate and vote in parliament but is speculated to become law as early as this year.

One issue envisaged with the new proposed law is the difficulty in enforcing it. For example, it will be difficult for any employee to prove that personal information from their page on any private social network has made its way into hiring files.

The bill marks the increasing growth of German government control of data privacy. The same bill plans to restrict the use of video recording employees in places where they are not made aware of such use, despite arguments from opponents claiming that the proposal will affect anti-theft measures and employee corruption.

Separately, the German Data Protection Authority is investigating Google Street View for issues of privacy and allegations of collecting unencrypted wifi data. Google have said that this was a mistake and have stopped this process. Google have also introduced tools for German residents to opt out of their property being displayed on the street image software. Meanwhile, German authorities are also testing Apple on their data collection policies for devices like the iPhone.

The proposed bill for Germany seems to be welcomed amongst politicians. Up until now there has been no such legislation regulating social networking websites in this way. It is hoped that it will provide future guidance for courts in the growing number of cases involving networks such as Facebook. It is unknown at this stage whether the UK is soon to follow in Germany's legislative steps.


This blog was largely contributed by Nicola Mallon, whose copyright and moral rights in the blog are asserted. Many thanks to Nicola from everybody at Forde Campbell.

Places You Can’t Escape Facebook

At Facebook HQ on 18th August, CEO Mark Zuckerberg launched the highly anticipated new app, ‘Places’.

Following the lead of rival applications, Foursquare and Gowalla, the social networking site now offers its own geolocation service. The application allows users to ‘check in’ to various locations, in order to let their friends know where they are in real-time. It is also possible to tag friends who have been spotted in the same location. Places updates will be broadcast on friends’ News Feeds, on the user’s Wall, and in the ‘activity stream’ for that location.

Michael Sharon, the product manager for Places states that the goal of the app is to take the virtual relationships created through Facebook into the physical world. However, the commercial advantages for local businesses are also clear. Real-time geolocation data would enable shops, restaurants, bars and clubs to send vouchers, prizes, or promotion deals to entice customers who are nearby.

With over 500 million users on the site, the application is certain to send Facebook deeper into the quagmire of privacy debates. Rainey Reitman, spokeswoman for the non-profit consumer advocacy organisation, Privacy Rights Clearinghouse warned, “Location data is tied to people’s safety – if people know where you are, they know where you’re not.” Under the privacy settings, it is possible to control whether others can see your location by unchecking the “include me in ‘People Here Now’ after I check in” option, and disabling the “Friends can check me into places” function. Under the default setting, check ins will automatically be published.

The app is currently only available for smartphones in the US, but plans are already underway to include other countries in the upcoming months.

Further reading:
http://www.facebook.com/places/
http://www.guardian.co.uk/technology/2010/aug/19/facebook-places-location-tool-unveiled