Facebook seeks to join High Court proceedings in Schrems case

News General Ireland 20 OCT 2015
Facebook seeks to join High Court proceedings in Schrems case
Facebook has requested the chance to give its opinion in a legal challenge by Austrian student Max Schrems against Ireland’s Data Protection Commissioner the Irish privacy regulator for refusing to investigate Facebook’s transfer of data to the US, Reuters reports. A Facebook spokesperson said, “We believe it is critical that we join the proceedings so that we can provide accurate information about our procedures and processes, as well as to correct inaccuracies that already exist.” 

Schrems had challenged Facebook’s transfer of European users’ data to its servers in the US due to the risk of breaching users’ privacy in the wake of data collection revelations by Edward Snowden. He filed the complaint in Ireland because it is where the company has its European headquarters. The Ireland’s High Court had referred the complaint to the European Court of Justice, asking if national authorities could suspend data transfers. 

The ECJ ruled on 6 October that the Safe Harbour agreement between the US and EU was invalid because the US could not be considered a safe destination for EU citizens’ data. It also found that national authorities have the power to investigate and suspend data transfers to non-EU countries. Following this ruling, the Irish High Court is resuming proceedings on 20 October to decide how to decide to proceed with the complaint against the Data Protection Commissioner. 

At the proceedings, the High Court ruled that the Data Protection Commissioner's decision not to investigate Schrems original complaint should be quashed. Data Protection Commissioner Helen Dixon said in a statement, "I welcome today's ruling from Judge Hogan which brings these proceedings to a conclusion. My office will now proceed to investigate the substance of the complaint with all due diligence."

Categories:

General

Companies:

Facebook

Regions:

Europe

Countries:

Ireland

Tags:

Hosting - cloud - data centres, Regulations, IT - applications, Portals / social media, Legislation - Lawsuits

Related Articles

EUROPE 31 MAY 2019

Facebook loses Irish Supreme Court appeal in data privacy case

Ireland's Supreme Court has dismissed Facebook's appeal over last year's High Court ruling to refer aspects concerning the validity of European Commission decisions approving EU-US data transfer channels to the European Court of Justice (ECJ). In a unanimous decision, the Supreme Court said it would not overturn any aspect of the High Court's ruling, meaning the ECJ will now hear the case in July.

GERMANY 2 MAR 2016

German Cartel Office starts proceedings against Facebook

The German Federal Cartel Office has started a proceeding against Facebook USA, the Irish subsidiary of the company and Facebook Germany. The Cartel Office believes Facebook may have abused its dominant position in the market for social networks with its specific terms of service on the use of user data. The office will conduct the proceeding in close contact with the competent data protection officers, consumer protection associations as well as the European Commission and the competition authorities of th

EUROPE 10 DEC 2015

New EU-US 'safe harbour' deal to include suspension clause

The European Union's justice commissioner Vera Jourova has confirmed that the new data transfer deal between the European Union and the US will give the EU the right to suspend transfers in the absence of sufficient privacy guarantees. "In the new safe harbour there will be a suspension clause, saying that under concrete conditions we are going to suspend (it)," said Jourova at a Brussels conference, according to Reuters. The previous data-transfer agreement was struck down in a European Court of Justice ru

EUROPE 3 DEC 2015

Schrems asks privacy regulators to enforce EU court ruling

The 'Europe vs Facebook' coalition, led by Austrian student Max Schrems, has asked the data protection authorities of Ireland, Belgium and the German City of Hamburg to enforce on Facebook the recent judgement by the European Court of Justice regarding transfers of personal data from the European Union to the US. The court ruled on 6 October that transfers of personal data from the EU to the US are violating European fundamental rights to privacy and a fair procedure and struck down the 'safe harbour' data-

EUROPE 13 NOV 2015

EU wants US firms to report data requests

The European Union's justice commissioner Vera Jourova has called on US companies to report requests by US intelligence services for data on European online users under a new 'safe harbour' data-transfer agreement. In an interview with the Wall Street Journal, the commissioner said the suggested review mechanism would add to official information on the data requests and serve as a way of cross-checking the scale of access to EU citizens' data by the US National Security Agency. "What we wanted was to have a

BELGIUM 9 NOV 2015

Facebook ordered to stop tracking Belgian internet users

A court in Brussels has given Facebook 48 hours to stop tracking and registering personal details of internet users in Belgium. The company faces a fine of EUR 250,000 a day if it does not comply with the order, Belga news agency reported. The court of first instance in Brussels issued the ruling in a case brought by the Belgian Privacy Commission, which has been investigating Facebook's handling of personal data since early this year. In particular, it has accused the social network of tracking internet us

EUROPE 6 NOV 2015

EC issues guidelines on personal data transfers to the US

The European Commission has reiterated a deadline of three months to come to a new 'safe harbour' agreement with the US on the transfer of personal data between the territories. Following the EU court ruling in October scrapping the EC's previous designation of the US as a 'safe harbour' for data on EU residents, the European Commission has issued guidelines for businesses operating in the EU and sending protected data to the US. They may still legally do so under certain conditions, such as agreeing a cont

EUROPE 27 OCT 2015

EU, US near deal on new 'safe harbour' terms

The European Union has reached an agreement in principle with the US on strengthening the 'safe harbour' agreement on the transfer of personal data to the US. The announcement was made by Vera Jourova, the European Commssioner for Justice, who was addressing the Committee on Civil Liberties, Justice and Home Affairs in the European Parliament on the consequences of the recent ruling by the EU Court of Justice striking down the previous designation of the US as a safe harbour. Jourová said the European Commi

AUSTRIA 22 OCT 2015

Court rules Schrems Facebook suit admissible in Vienna

The Higher Regional Court of Vienna ruled that actions brought by Facebook user Maximilian Schrems against Facebook are admissible, Heute.at reports. The court decided, however, that Schrems is only admitted to sue the company alone, and not in a class action. His application was declared inadmissible in the first instance. The Austrian data protection activist had sued Facebook, demanding documentation on how the social network benefits from using its users' data. Some 250,000 Facebook users joined his act

GLOBAL 21 OCT 2015

Facebook to notify users of attack by suspected govt hackers

Facebook has launched a new feature that notifies users if their accounts have been targeted by government-sponsored hackers. Facebook's chief security officer Alex Stamos said users would be notified if Facebook believes an account has been targeted or compromised by an attacker suspected of working on behalf of a nation state. According to Yahoo News, the notification will advise users to turn on a feature called Login Approvals, which sends them a new security code that must be entered each time an accou

EUROPE 19 OCT 2015

EU regulators set 3-mth deadline for new safe harbour deal

The EU's data protection regulators have given the EU and US three months to negotiate a new 'safe harbour' agreement on the transfer of personal data to the US, or the regulators may start pursuing enforcement action against companies. The existing designation for the US as a 'safe' destination for data on EU residents was overturned in a ruling by the EU Court of Justice. It found the US could not be considered safe given the evidence of wide-ranging data collection by security services in the US and the

EUROPE 6 OCT 2015

EU-US 'safe harbour' data transfers declared invalid

The European Court of Justice (ECJ) has ruled that the 'safe harbour' agreement on data transfers between the EU and US is invalid, casting doubt on the extent to which US tech giants such as Facebook, Google and Apple can continue to collect data from their users in the EU. The ECJ's ruling upholds the opinion of its advocate-general Yves Bot, who last month said the 'safe harbour' deal should be invalidated "because the surveillance carried out by the US is mass, indiscriminate surveillance," leaving the

AUSTRIA 2 JUL 2015

Facebook wins legal battle with student in Austrian court

An Austrian student's legal battle against Facebook, accusing it of helping the US security service to collect personal data, suffered a setback after a Vienna court rejected his case on procedural grounds, Reuters.com reports. The law student is claiming EUR 500 in damages for each of more than 25,000 signatories to his lawsuit. Facebook's lawyer presented a long list of procedural objections to the Vienna court in April, questioning Schrems' status as a private Facebook consumer and whether the 25,000 pla

EUROPE 26 MAR 2015

Safe harbour rules do not protect citizens' data - EC lawyer

A European Commission attorney has warned EU citizens that if they want to keep information private from US security services, they should close their Facebook accounts because current safe harbour legislation does not protect EU citizens' data, the Guardian reports. "You might consider closing your Facebook account, if you have one," said EC attorney Bernard Schima to attorney general Yves Bot in the hearing of a case brought by privacy campaigner Maximilian Schrems, who has sued Ireland at the European Co

EUROPE 25 MAR 2015

Facebook user sues Ireland at ECJ for sharing data with US

Austrian Facebook user Maximilian Schrems is suing the Irish data protection commission at the European Court of Justice for declining to intervene in a case pitting him against Facebook, which he argues that EU-based companies should not be able to transfer users' personal data to the US under so-called safe harbour protections. The case reported by the Guardian occured in Ireland because Facebook has its European headquarters in Dublin. Schrems managed to recover 1,222 ages of material from Facebook in 20

Just In

19 DEC 16:42

SLT-Mobitel launches 5G network in Sri Lanka

19 DEC 16:19

Dialog Axiata launches 5G network, connects 1.5 million subscribers

19 DEC 15:56

UK govt to ban AI-enabled nudification apps to protect women, girls

19 DEC 15:42

3 UK launches last-minute Christmas sale

Commentary

13:56

Video market set for slower growth ahead

11:38

Netflix buys Warner Bros to deepen content catalogue

11:11

KPN's mixed performance in Q3 raises questions for strategy day

15:26

Stock markets breaking records but what happened to Odido's IPO plans?

Background

01:04

The week in telecom: Wi-Fi bolt-ons take off to boost broadband growth, video market works on consolidation

01:39

The week in telecom: Netflix wins bidding for Warner Bros, Apple poaches new execs, Samsung debuts trifold

13:51

Proximus vs. Telenet: Proximus performs better in Q3 while Telenet uses up cash

14:16

Proximus Domestic still struggling with low margins

Complete profile

Before downloading the whitepaper, we would like to ask you to complete your profile with company and position. After confirming you will receive the white paper.