Australian court finds Facebook 'divorced from reality' as it tried to define doing business down under

Australia's Federal Court has described Facebook's explanation of how its tech works as "divorced from reality" in ruling against it in a landmark privacy case. Facebook tech made it before the bench because in 2018 The Office of the Australian Information Commissioner (OAIC) sued The Social Network™ over the This Is Your …

[low_resolution_foxxes]

Cookies should come with a health warning statement similar to tobacco.

None of this nonsence about "personalised experienced". Ads, stalking, monitoring, forced selling your sexuality, plus any of the school information you put in your Facebook bio.

[cipnt]

Or just modify all browsers to only store cookies with explicit consent, similar to how today we are prompted to share location data

[Snake]

Re: store cookies with explicit consent

But you pretty much well can do that now, using the tools built in to your current browser. Set your cookie policy to "www.facebook.com = block", delete your cookies at every close of the program, and you're set.

But almost no one wants to take any level of effort to actually *do* these sort of things...

[anonymousI]

Re: store cookies with explicit consent

We shouldn't have to *do* them.

Why should users have to go through that rigmarole every time on close because Facebook et al are usurping their rights?

[Steven Burn]

Re: store cookies with explicit consent

IIRC, it's not that simple, you'd also need to block *.facebook.com, *.fb.com, along with whatever else they've decided to use this time.

[sniperpaddy]

Re: store cookies with explicit consent

Plus the hundreds of slurpers

[A.P. Veening]

Re: store cookies with explicit consent

Don't forget anything coming from (IPv6) IP address face:b00k:*

[sniperpaddy]

Re: store cookies with explicit consent

You are missing the point about privacy; "Opt-out" should be the default setting.

Besides the implicit Opt-In, Facebook have played it fast and loose over the years by changing default settings and adding new ones where a users previous privacy settings get "bypassed".

[Chris G]

Divorced from reality?

More like, unable to recognise reality, which probably why the Zuckerverse is now making it's own.

[Pascal Monett]

Who said judges knew nothing about Thar Intarwebs ?

"the purpose of cookies is to gather personal information – and doing so allowed Facebook to serve custom ads in Australia"

I'll bet the legal department at FaceBook HQ is kicking themselves over that right now.

Heh. Good on the judges. I hope a massive fine will ensue.

[Anonymous Coward]

Re: Who said judges knew nothing about Thar Intarwebs ?

Yup, probably soaking a bus ticket in a saucer of warm milk at this very moment.

[Archie Campbell]

Re: Who said judges knew nothing about Thar Intarwebs ?

Would that be the judicial attempting a new method of avoiding kangaroos? Whereas clearly facebook was actually _targeting_ Australians, with whom their own judiciary have a needlessly emphasised relationship which extends to any approach speed whatsoever.

[Steven Burn]

Re: Who said judges knew nothing about Thar Intarwebs ?

Hoping so, but wouldn't hold my breath (don't fancy dying of asphyxiation)

[Magani]

Where's Mr T?

"The decision allows the OAIC to serve legal documents on Facebook Inc. in pursuit of its privacy suit."

I love it when a plan comes together.

Hannibal Smith - A Team

[Anonymous Coward]

Faceballs

Suffer in ya jocks Zuck!

[thedogandduck]

Nice to see their T&Cs being used to keep them on the hook

[Martin Summers]

I find most users of Facebook are somehow divorced from reality.

[b0llchit]

Yes they are, divorced from reality.

Reality is that place where you add drugs to escape from reality. Facebook is a pusher of dopamine and infuses ads. Most users are serious addicts escaping from reality by means of dopamine kicks and mind numbing targeted ads.

[eldakka]

Reality is the illusion caused by a lack of drugs

- me mid-80's, probably stolen from someone else

[JDPower666]

How's the view up there?

[Anonymous Coward]

I'm pretty sure that facebook cache's are completely supplied and supported by facebook and the "network operator" literally only hosts the physical hardware with no access to them. So I'm not sure how this court has ruled they are not part of facebook.

[-v(o.o)v-]

They are.

[Ken Hagan]

If Facebook's position is that they don't do business in Australia, presumably they wouldn't have a problem with Australian ISPs blocking FB's servers.

[Anonymous Coward]

I like that idea

Instead of an insignificant fine, let the court give the childish Zuck a timeout.

Order Australian ISPs to block Farcebook for three months.

[LybsterRoy]

Re: I like that idea

Whilst I love the concept of blocking Facebook I fear that you'll find most addicts would kick up a bit of a fuss about it.

[SundogUK]

Re: I like that idea

...And?

[Steven Burn]

Re: I like that idea

If only they'd done that before he was conceived .....

[AdamWill]

Perspective

Facebook lawyer: "With respect, your honour, I think you'll find it's reality that's divorced from Facebook".

[eldakka]

Re: Perspective

Reality filed for divorce quite some time ago, but Zuck seems to be ducking the process servers.