DARKMATTERS
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The European Court of Justice determined today that a person or body can make a complaint to their own Member State Data Protection Commissioner about a data protection issue regarding a company that operates within its Member State. It no longer matters (with certain restrictions) whether the “Data controller” is based in another Member State.
In this particular instance, the Belgium Privacy Commission complained about facebook’s collection and use of information on the browsing behavior of Belgium internet users whether or not they were Facebook account holders. Facebook had argued that the “data controller” for the data was based in Ireland (it’s European Headquarters) and that the appropriate authority to hear the complaint was the Irish Data Protection Commissioner. The ECJ disagreed.
In this particular instance, the Belgium Privacy Commission complained about facebook’s collection and use of information on the browsing behavior of Belgium internet users whether or not they were Facebook account holders. Facebook had argued that the “data controller” for the data was based in Ireland (it’s European Headquarters) and that the appropriate authority to hear the complaint was the Irish Data Protection Commissioner. The ECJ disagreed.