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08. 02. 12. - 18:00

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08. 02. 12. - 18:00

Austrian student battles Facebook

A 24-year-old student from Austria is tackling Facebook over their data protection regulations. Law student, Max Schrems from Vienna met with executives from the social network site on Monday after he complained about the amount of information that the organisation retained on its users.

Schrems’ battle began last year when he and his student lobbying group, "Europe versus Facebook", began fighting for more privacy on the site. The students requested that Facebook send them a copy of the information that the site currently held on them, which the site are required to provide under EU regulation. The law students argued that the company were hanging onto information from site users even after it was deleted and that this was not being clearly explained to those using the network.

According to Schrems and Facebook the meeting at Vienna airport was a success but the lobbying group still believe that the social network site is bending European data protection legislation. Facebook has pledged to continue to develop their data protection methods and in particular to ensure that deletion on the website really means deletion.

"We hope to get some more information but from a democratic point of view it is absurd to think that a few students can represent all users in negotiations with a multinational company," explained Schrems. "It is like a customer is negotiating with a supermarket on food safety." The student is determined however, claiming that, "we will not give up our demands."

The student group have vowed on their website that they will publish the details of the meeting as it was carried out behind closed doors. Whilst some of their questions were answered they are still awaiting a response on many of their queries.

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