[daveycrocket]

The essense of this artical is a large part of why I need BlackBerry. Being a professional health provider I have to restrict my data to the European area. Mobiles that use "cloud server only" facilities like windows phone 7 which are located outside Europe is against our laws. Other OS's use cloud sevices as does BlackBerry but they mainly do not provide PC access to the files that I may want to use for example sms, calenders, contacts without uploading to the cloud. I believe that Europe will do more to close this breach of the data protection rules, Germany seems to be the first, In view of the riots I feel that UK may also impose restrictions. I believe BlackBerry to be the only OS that can live within these restrictions, weve seen this move also coming from Russia concerning the playbook. It's my feeling that RIMM and BB is on the up.

German watchdog in Facebook curb - Yahoo!


A German data protection authority is "unliking" Facebook's "Like" button.

Thilo Weichert, data protection commissioner in the state of Schleswig-Holstein, has ordered state institutions to shut down the fan pages on the social networking site and remove the "Like" button from their websites, saying it leads to profiling that violates German and European law.

Facebook insisted that it is in full compliance with European data protection laws.

Mr Weichert issued a statement saying technical analysis by his office shows California-based Facebook violated German and European data protection laws by passing content data to the social network's servers in the US.

"Whoever visits facebook.com or uses a plug-in must expect that he or she will be tracked by the company for two years," Mr Weichert said. "Facebook builds a broad individual and for members even a personalised profile."

A Facebook spokesman conceded that the company can see "information such as the IP address" of users who visit a site with a "Like" button. "We delete this technical data within 90 days," said the spokesman, who did not give his name in keeping with company policy. "That is in keeping with normal industry standards."

Mr Weichert's office ordered website owners in Schleswig-Holstein to "immediately stop the passing on of user data to Facebook in the USA by deactivating the respective services" and threatened to take legal action if they fail to comply.

He also urged internet users in general to "keep their fingers from clicking on social plug-ins" and "not set up a Facebook account" to avoid being profiled.

The keepers of Germany's strict privacy laws have repeatedly clashed on issues of privacy with international internet giants, such as Facebook and Google - often with success.

Last year Google allowed Germans who opposed its Street View mapping system to blur images of their homes, while Facebook in January granted members more control over their email address books after a dispute over its "Friend Finder" service.