Johannes Caspar, the Data Protection Commissioner for Germany, suspended an investigation into Facebook's business practices related to the photo suggest feature on Facebook. The privacy complaint is two-fold; that Facebook is developing a massive database of images uploaded by Facebook subscribers without their permission, and that Facebook uses an opt-out rather than an opt-in approach, which is the legal standard in Germany. While the legal consequences for Facebook are a minuscule $31,000 fine, reopening this investigation might have an EU-wide effect with greater legal and reputation consequences.
From the
NYTimes article:
The data protection commissioner in Hamburg, Johannes Caspar, suspended the inquiry in June, but said he reopened it after attempts to persuade Facebook to change its policies had failed.
“We have met repeatedly with Facebook but have not been able to get their cooperation on this issue, which has grave implications for personal data,” Mr. Caspar said in an interview.
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