Facebook now denying access unless EU users opt-in to tracking

Re:Facebook now denying access unless EU users opt-in to tra... by petercooper on Wednesday May 09, 2018 @12:29PM (#17031187)

On the contrary, commercial interests, including things like direct marketing, are considered acceptable "legitimate interests" under the GDPR, assuming the practice follows industry standards, ethics, and are legal.

However, they need to pass two other tests, a "necessity" test that determines that the processing of information is necessary to serve the interest, and, most crucially, a "balancing" test which balances the commercial interest against the user's interests, rights, and freedoms. It's this latter part where more onerous advertising practices will falter.

https://ico.org.uk/for-organisations/guide-to-the-general-da...

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Re:Facebook now denying access unless EU users opt-in to tra... by zdragnar on Wednesday May 09, 2018 @01:03PM (#17031519)

Interesting... the "necessity" test was what I was referring to for "necessary to work". However, I wasn't aware of the "balancing" test.

Also, does Facebook's ad network really constitute "direct marketing"? I had imagined that to be more of an email blast about a new FB feature, rather than collect-your-usage-data-and-sell-marketing-slots-to-you.

Now that I type that out, I guess it does make more sense. However, I really am not a big fan of the common-law approach to the "balancing" test. Basically, whoever has the most money and faces the most lenient judge wins. Everyone else is left guessing what the hell is legal and what isn't, when a clear set of rules would be much easier to fairly apply to everyone.

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Re:Facebook now denying access unless EU users opt-in to tra... by petercooper on Thursday May 10, 2018 @06:31AM (#17037668)

Erroneous guesses about GDPR, upvoted. Legal fact citing the law itself, downvoted.

Vote me down all you like, but it doesn't affect what is actual legal fact :-)

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