Austrian Group Plans Court Challenge to Facebook's Privacy Policies

An Austrian student group said it planned to challenge Facebook’s privacy policies in Irish court in coming months, alleging that the social networking giant had failed, despite repeated requests and formal complaints made by its members, to adapt its privacy policy to the restrictions of European data protection law. The group, called Europe vs. Facebook, said it would begin collecting donations to challenge Facebook's privacy policy in Ireland, where the company’s European business is based. Max Schrems, an Austrian law student at the University of Vienna who organized the effort, said that Facebook has no interest in adapting its service to meet stricter European privacy requirements.