The new flag of German reflects its Facebook status perfectly.

I don’t know anything about the German state of Schleswig-Holstein.  I’m sure it’s a beautiful place with many, many beautiful Holstein cows.  The one thing I can tell you about Schleswig-Holstein is that they take their privacy very, very seriously there.  In fact, the state government of Schleswig-Holstein has banned the Facebook Like button on official websites and ordered government branches to shut down their Facebook pages over privacy concerns.

According to Schleswig-Holstein’s data-protection commissioner, Thilo Weichert of the ULD, the Facebook Like button builds profiles of both users and non-users based off of the Like button, which would run contrary to EU and German privacy laws.  To Weichert, that feature is allowing Facebook to illegally collect data that it has no right to as far as government institutions are concerned.  Somebody better warn Queen Elizabeth that her love of raunchy Facebook updates may soon be leaked to the public!

Meanwhile, Facebook is arguing its case in the court of public opinion:  “We firmly reject any assertion that Facebook is not compliant with EU data protection standards.  The Facebook Like button is such a popular feature because people have complete control over how their information is shared through it.  For more than a year, the plugin has brought value to many businesses and individuals every day.  We will review the materials produced by the ULD, both on our own behalf and on the behalf of web users throughout Germany.”

Tags: Germany, privacy, German state bans Facebook like button, German state bans Facebook profile for government, Facebook Like buttons banned by German state, Thilo Weichert, Schleswig-Holstein,  Schleswig-Holstein bans Facebook Like for government pages,  Schleswig-Holstein Facebook Like ban, privacy protection, social networking, data protection, ULD, government facebook ban

I’ve never had a problem eating food from a gas station.  Just two weeks ago, I ate a couple of hot dogs purchased from a gas station.  They were delicious.  That’s not the first time I’ve eaten gas station food, and I doubt it will be the last.  There’s nothing like a fun food novelty. […]

Commissioner Roger Goodell gathered 32 NFL owners for one big question.  One of the league’s most wanderlust-stricken franchises is looking to move again.  The Oakland-Los Angeles-Oakland Raiders, tired of gutting it out in a run-down stadium, were once again looking for greener pastures.  Only the Miami Dolphins refused to cooperate.  With a vote of 31-1, […]

In 2006, an injury to Dallas Cowboys starting quarterback Drew Bledsoe opened the door for an undrafted free agent by the name of Tony Romo to take the helm of America’s Team and lead the Dallas Cowboys to an early playoff exit.  Bledsoe went from starter to afterthought in a season.  Now, the circle continues […]

For 89 years, Oscars has never had a major mistake.  The last few Oscars might have had a few flubs, but at least they never got the most important category of the night wrong.  Well, that’s now changed, all thanks to OG Bonnie and Clyde legends Warren Beatty and Faye Dunaway.  When Faye Dunaway called […]

Tom Brady has been wildly successful, if controversial.  He’s the first quarterback ever to win five Super Bowls and only the second player to do so after Charles Haley.  Unlike Haley, Brady won all his Super Bowls with the same team, the New England Patriots.  The only thing that seems to be able to stop […]

Ben Affleck, no matter what you might think of him, is a talented actor and director.  He’s got the goods, but he’s smart enough to know when he’s in over his head.  All along, since he took on the mantle of Batman, he’s had his eyes on writing, directing, and starring as the Caped Crusader. […]

In May, students for the for-profit American College of Education were running into some problems.  Their access to email accounts and course information was locked down by Google, who had disabled their accounts.  The reason why?  A fired IT worker for the American College of Education locked the school out of their Google cloud account. […]