[x-pubpol] No more fake names: German court sides with Facebook over pseudonym lawsuit

[Joly MacFie]

http://www.zdnet.com/no-more-fake-names-german-court-sides-with-facebook-over-pseudonym-lawsuit-7000014539/

Facebook has scored a major victory over German privacy advocates in the
battle over whether users of the social networking site should have the
right to use a fake name.

The Independent Centre for Privacy Protection (Unabhängiges Landeszentrums
für Datenschutz or ULD) — a state-sponsored but independent organisation
which aims to protect the privacy of internet users — had been trying to
enforce a court order obliging Facebook to allow pseudonyms and
nicknames<http://www.zdnet.com/facebook-wins-european-court-battle-over-right-to-fake-names-7000011446/>
.

The ULD had lodged an appeal with the Schleswig-Holstein administrative
court of appeals (OVG) against rulings made by the Schleswig administrative
court that Facebook — whose European HQ is in Dublin, Ireland — is subject
to Irish rather than German privacy law. According to the OVG, Facebook
Germany is just an ad sales and marketing organisation, and is separate to
Facebook Ireland.

Consequently, as the OVG found Facebook is only bound by Irish law in such
matters, the administrative court's ruling that Facebook had to allow
individuals to use fake names was effectively repealed.

This decision is, according to the ULD, a severe blow to data and privacy
protection, because it means that German data protection law cannot be
applied to Facebook directly.

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