For those who detest Facebook

[RainCaster]

True confession- I'm among them.

So the EU has decided that when the EU orders a take-down of any information, it must be done world wide and not just in the requesting country. OK- that seems like a simple thing to do and a very reasonable request. Except that FB has purposely designed their network to make this very difficult. Damn. I feel so sad for those arrogant crooks.

There's a shit-ton more at the link, along with the PDF of the ruling. Well worth looking at if you are involved in any way with a social network and it's design. You may have similar requirement soon.

EU nations can force Facebook to remove content worldwide, court rules
The ruling could let EU nations override other countries' own laws, critics say.

The ruling (PDF) stems from a case that began in Austria three years ago. A Facebook user posted comments about an Austrian politician, Eva Glawischnig-Piesczek, that Austrian courts found to be illegally defamatory. Glawischnig-Piesczek in 2016 wrote to Facebook Ireland, the company's EU headquarters, asking the company to delete the comments and limit access to them globally. Facebook refused, Glawischnig-Piesczek sued, and the results of the years of legal wrangling are out today.

A service is not liable for information it's hosting "if it has no knowledge of its illegal nature or if it acts expeditiously to remove or disable access" to the illegal content as soon as it becomes aware of it, the court said; the United States operates under a similar standard. The EU's directive on electronic commerce also "prohibits any requirement for the host provider," meaning a company such as Facebook, "to monitor generally information which it stores or to seek actively facts or circumstances indicating illegal activity," the court said.

FURTHER READING
Google wins case as court rules “right to be forgotten” is EU-only
But that directive does not preclude an EU member nation from ordering a service to remove or block access to content that is identical or equivalent to content that has been deemed unlawful in the past, the court ruled. Nations can require, the court said, the use of automated technologies and filters to make it happen. Crucially, the directive also does not prohibit EU member nations from requiring platforms to remove or block access to such information worldwide, "within the framework of the relevant international law."

The globe-spanning ruling is the opposite approach the court took less than two weeks ago in a different case, when it held that the so-called right to be forgotten under EU law does not require Google to make certain information inaccessible to the world beyond European borders.

[Guy Whitey Corngood]

1. K&R! I've never used it. But still. nt

[RainCaster]

2. Meanwhile, the US Gov wants FB and others to give them a backdoor

as they choose to hide all their embarrassing shit from us. (no hypocrisy here!)
Uh oh: Trump’s attorney general asks Facebook for ‘backdoor’ messaging access

WASHINGTON — The Justice Department has renewed its fight for access to encrypted communications, arguing that it is a vital crime-fighting tool as technology companies and advocates countered that it would threaten individual privacy.

Attorney General William P. Barr took aim at Facebook’s plan to make WhatsApp and other messaging services more secure, pressing its chief executive, Mark Zuckerberg, to create a so-called back door to its planned end-to-end encryption. The Justice Department said that investigators needed lawful access to encrypted communications to fight terrorism, organized crime and child pornography.

“Companies should not deliberately design their systems to preclude any form of access to content even for preventing or investigating the most serious crimes,” Mr. Barr, joined by his British and Australian counterparts, wrote in a letter to Mr. Zuckerberg that was reviewed by The New York Times and dated Friday. BuzzFeed News first reported on the letter.

Mr. Barr’s request was the latest salvo in a yearslong fight by law enforcement officials for access to popular and increasingly secure communications platforms. The conflict last came to a head in 2016, when a federal judge ordered Apple to help the F.B.I. unlock an iPhone recovered after the 2015 mass shooting in San Bernardino, Calif. The F.B.I. ultimately cracked it without Apple’s help, easing tensions for a time with the tech companies.

[msongs]

3. bad idea for a foreigner to block a company worldwide (think china russia doing it). if that

nation doesnt like facebook it can block facebook in that nation, not everywhere

[RainCaster]

4. You're not understanding

It has only to do with specific things - like those embarrassing photos of your dog in a skirt.