On 3 April, an Austrian student who last year denounced Facebook’s privacy policy urged users of the social network to turn to the European Commission to obtain compliance with EU data protection legislation. ‘Europe versus Facebook’( www.europe-v-facebook.org), the initiative headed by law student Max Schrems, denounces Facebook’s failure to comply with deadlines set by the Irish Data Protection Commissioner (DPC) in a procedure opened last summer. Facebook’s Europeaheadquarters is based in Ireland.

The group of students waited until 31 March, set by the DPC as the deadline for Facebook to change the way it operates: “Facebook was supposed to have changed its data protection policy by that date [...] but nothing has happened yet,” notes the group, which urges the other users who referred the case to the DPC to turn to the European Commission. The group explains on its website how to lodge a complaint against the Irish authority in Brussels.

The DPC told the Austrian press agency APAthat “substantial progress has been made” and that it expected its recommendations to be implemented by July. “Facebook seems to be leading the Irish body up the garden path,” commented Schrems.