Ilse Aigner, German Minister, Slams Facebook On Privacy, Threatens To Quit

BERLIN — A German minister has sharply criticized Facebook's handling of personal data and is calling on the social network to upgrade its privacy settings.

Consumer protection minister Ilse Aigner urges Facebook's CEO and founder Mark Zuckerberg in an open letter "to revise the privacy policy without delay."

In the letter provided Monday to The Associated Press, Aigner refers to Facebook's planned changes to its privacy settings and calls on the company not to allow personal data to be passed on to third parties for commercial purposes without users' consent.

She says "private information must remain private" and adds that "Facebook does not respect this wish."

The minister says she will delete her Facebook account if its does not change its planned privacy settings.

Comments

[arizonabay]

12:49 PM on 04/06/2010

Here is a novel idea, don't put info on a website, that you are not willing to let the guy next to you on the bus know. Better yet don't use them at all if you don't want your info out there. I dare guess most people don't know that just about every website they go to knows your IP address.

[kuastar]

12:18 AM on 04/06/2010

Has anyone attempted to delete (not simply deactivate) their FB account? Any luck?

[Nina Anthony]

06:27 PM on 04/05/2010

If Facebook continues to diminish the control that users have over their privacy settings, they are bound to lose more users. Sadly. I don't think many users are aware of just how public some of their information is.

I'm maddened every time I go on to my wall to clean up/delete all the "stories" that are now public. I don't want everyone knowing whose photos I liked or what quirky pages or groups I've joined. And I certainly don't like everyone seeing what my private interests are, such as my favorite books, movies, and bands. I've deleted them from my Info section, yet my old settings remain public.

With each change they make, I'm more and more tempted to quit. Unfortunately, I feel trapped since my organization's Fan Page was created by me and managed by me.

Has anyone heard what happened regarding the status of some of the complaints filed by various privacy advocacy groups to the FCC over Facebook's latest privacy changes?

[tradewithdavedotcom]

12:25 PM on 04/05/2010

For an in-depth look at the social and economic implications of the Facebook and Google Buzz policy struggles users may enjoy this post.

http://bit.ly/dq6jPJ

Thanks,

Dave Harrison
www.tradewithdave.com