You have to look beyond the law to what its purpose is - to prevent companies from exploiting your personal information, and to force them to tell you what data they hold. Facebook are exploiting your browser history, without telling you. And are refusing to even own up to it.

I don't believe that 99% of Facebook users would tick a box that said 'Please record every webpage I visit and store it for your own future use. I do not want access to, nor the right to remove, this data.' Voluntary or not, there's a right to at least see the data that anyone holds on you. Note that you don't have the right to remove data.

This is EXACTLY why data protection laws are there. At the time they were enacted it was largely credit reference agencies, public bodies and direct marketing businesses which were in the spotlight. Had they been written today they would be aimed firmly at Facebook, Google and Apple.

This is an articulate, succinct article that clearly outlines the concern without any FUD or name-calling. This is what I want to see from the FSF, and what would make me more likely to donate to them in the future.

I hate to turn this into an RMS rant, but this approach stands in stark relief to his "iBad/iGroan/Swindle" theatrics. This, I can appreciate. This, I can get behind. I just wish that these kinds of articles and press releases were what the FSF was most known for.