Technology | Germany Germany Goes After Facebook Over Privacy Law 'Friend Finder' could get the social networking site a hefty fine By Nick McMaster Posted Jul 7, 2010 5:46 PM CDT Copied Mark Zuckerberg, CEO of Facebook, smiles at the annual Allen & Co. Media summit in Sun Valley, Idaho, Wednesday, July 7, 2010. (AP Photo/Nati Harnik) Facebook faces legal action in Germany over the nation's strict privacy laws, Monsters and Critics reports. A privacy commissioner has charged that the site's "Friend Finder" breaks German law. The software looks at the address books of users and sends emails to friends asking them to join Facebook. That function breaks German bans on firms collecting information on non-clients and using it for marketing, he says. "We consider the capture of data from third parties in this fashion impermissible under data-protection laws," said the commissioner, Johannes Caspar. "We want to demonstrate that German data protection law also applies to foreign firms that have users in Germany." He has given Facebook until Aug. 11 to reply. Read These Next A Social Security whistleblower says retaliation made him quit. 'Stand down,' Chicago mayor tells Trump. RFK Jr. suggests antidepressants to blame after shooting. A new possible clue in the hunt for Travis Decker. Report an error