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German State Bans Facebook’s “Like”

The German state of Schleswig-Holstein has ordered government institutions to close their Facebook pages and remove the "As" button on their websites - or face fines.
Data protection commissioner of Schleswig-Holstein, Thilo Weichert, says an analysis of his office shows that develops profiles of Facebook users and non-users with data collected by the same button, reports Associated Press. If true, this would violate the laws of the German and European data protection. In a statement, the organization of data protection urged Internet users "to keep fingers clicking social plugins" as well as the button to avoid being profiled.



"We firmly reject any claim that Facebook is not compatible with EU rules on data protection," said a spokeswoman for Facebook in another statement. "The Facebook As the button is a feature so popular because people have complete control over how information is shared through it. For more than a year, the plug-in has added value to many companies and individuals every day. We will review the materials produced by the ULD [the data protection agency], both on our own behalf and on behalf of Internet users in Germany. "

According to Facebook, the only information the company receives a user who is signed in the press the button as it is an IP address.

German regulators have been faced with Facebook before. Earlier this month, the data protection supervisor in Hamburg, said that the new automatic photo tagging Facebook feature may violate European privacy laws.