Facebook not complying with the privacy act, says Commissioner
Privacy Commissioner John Edwards says Facebook is not complying with the Privacy Act.
He said Facebook refused to give a complainant access to personal information held on the accounts of several other users.
The company told the commission the Privacy Act did not apply to it, and did not have to comply with the Commissioner’s request to review the information requested by the complainant. However, the Commissioner found Facebook was subject to the Privacy Act and had fundamentally failed to engage with the Act. He found Facebook did not comply with the Privacy Act as it failed to properly respond to the complainant’s request for information, acknowledge it was subject to the Privacy Act and cooperate with the Commissioner’s investigation and statutory demand for information. Mr Edwards told RNZ Facebook had the accounts and personal information of 2.5 million New Zealanders.
“It will tell you where to get a cup of coffee when you get off the plane in Rotorua and it will tell you where your friends have been in that place.
“It is an agency that’s in New Zealand, so it has to comply with the same rules as every other agency”, he said.
When “push came to shove” and they requested Facebook hand over the information for review, they refused, he said.
The Commission and Facebook have had a productive relationship in the past, this was the first time they had responded to the Commission this way, he said.
RNZ has contacted Facebook for comment.