Germany Reopens Facebook Privacy Inquiry

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Source: The New York Times

Data protection officials in Germany reopened an investigation into Facebook's facial recognition technology Wednesday, saying that the social networking giant was illegally compiling a huge database of members' photos without their consent.

The data protection commissioner in Hamburg, Johannes Caspar, had suspended the inquiry in June, but said he reopened it after attempts to persuade Facebook to change its policies had failed.

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The company's use of analytic software to compile photographic archives of human faces, based on photos uploaded by Facebook's members, has been controversial in Europe, where data protection laws require people to give their explicit consent to the practice.

Read more: http://mobile.nytimes.com/2012/08/16/technology/germans-reopen-facebook-privacy-inquiry.xml

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1. Facebook shares plunging as insiders start to sell

http://www.usatoday.com/money/perfi/stocks/story/2012-08-15/facebook-insiders-stock-lockup-period-expires/57078166/1

Shares of Facebook are plunging to all-time lows after the expiration of a lock-up period, which has provided early investors and insiders with an opportunity to exit.

The stock fell 7%, or $1.49, to $19.71 in Thursday morning trading.

If the stock hits $19, it will have lost half its value since Facebook (FB) went public in May.