Facebook Spies On People Even After They Log Out: Belgian Watchdog Claims

A Belgian data protection watchdog has compared Facebook with the National Security Agency in terms of “spying on people all around the world.”

The Belgian Privacy Commission filed a lawsuit against Facebook after having accused the social networking website of breaching privacy rights of users and breaching EU law. The BPC Lawyer Frederic Debussere said at a court hearing Monday that Facebook was doing the “very same thing” like the NSA, which had been accused of spying on people worldwide. He argued that Facebook’s way of doing such things was different from the NSA’s.

According to a report by the BPC in March, Facebook keeps track of everyone no matter if they have a Facebook account or not. The report also accuses Facebook of tracking users even after they log out. The report claims that Facebook exploits the “Share” and “Like” buttons used on over 13 million websites all over the world, RT reported.

Facebook, on the other hand, maintains its stance of denying such accusations. It claims the data used on the BPC report on Facebook privacy was false.

“We will show the court how this technology protects people from spam, malware, and other attacks, that our practices are consistent with EU law and with those of the most popular Belgian websites,” The Guardian quoted a Facebook spokesperson as saying.

Facebook also said that it has repeatedly offered help to resolve the concerns raised by the BPC. “The Belgian data protection authority conceded its original case and is now trying to stop Facebook from using security technology because they misunderstand it,” the social network said.

Debussere has asked people not to get intimidated by Facebook’s arguments claiming it is not subject to Belgian law as 900 employees at Facebook Ireland are responsible for the management of data gathering.