Irish High Court to review Facebook Prism complaint

The Irish High Court is going to review whether the Irish Data Protection Commissioner’s refusal to investigate Facebook’s involvement with the U.S. government surveillance program Prism was lawful.

In June, the Austrian student group Europe-v-Facebook filed a complaint with the Irish DPC against Facebook Ireland, which is responsible for the data of the company’s users outside the U.S. and Canada. When Facebook collects user data, exports it to the U.S. and by doing this giving the National Security Agency (NSA) the opportunity to use it for massive surveillance of personal information without probable cause, Facebook is violating European privacy laws, according to the group.

The Irish DPC however argued that there were no grounds to start an investigation under the Irish Data Protection Act because “safe harbor” requirements have been met.

SOURCE: computerworld.com