(Heard at the Radio, words of Mark Zuckerberg)
What followed was a short exchange of letters between me and the Bayerischer Rundfunk:
Dear ladies and gentlemen at BROnline,
Here are the texts:
Dear ladies and gentlemen at BR-Online,
I tried hard to remove my face-book entry. Apparently, it cannot be done. As I looked for help, I found the entries by the public data protector of Schleswig-Holstein.
Like me after all my failed attempts, he thinks that facebook violates the data security laws, both in Bavaria and Germany. Why do you support or use firms that obviously act illegally?
In my opinion, it would be no less than my right to demand of you that you no longer cooperate with facebook.
Sincerely yours
The Social Media Representative of BR sent me an interesting reply.
Dear Mr. Lorbeer,
thank you very much for being interested in our program. We at the Bayerischer Rundfunk take data protection very seriously, which is why the relevant questions asked by the county’s data security persons are currently under scrutiny and critical discussion by our ARD data security representative. The main requirements of data protection and data security with respect to social media in radio stations will be written down in a guideline.
Our using factbook at all for promoting links and information is due to the fact that many young people are simply a lot easier to reach there than through conventional channels; and it is part of our duty to reach those people with our messages.
Kind regards
In my reply, I also included a small part of the answer I gave after Zuckerberg’s disreputable phrasing. Would you like to comment on it?
Dear Mr. Primbs,
I am truly delighted to read that the BR is aware of the data security problem. There is a difference between me selling my consumption habit profile and processing my profile to politically interested parties via some published BR articles.
In my opinion, the latter, since company data processing and subsequent commercialization is just as useful to a firm as the former, has a far higher right to be protected. After all, I am not only deprived of data security as a citizen, but even potentially being made transparent as a voter – including my way of thinking and opinions.
To be sure, BR will not be able to stop facebook. But: can and may the BR use and protect facebook as long as this concern a) does not subject itself to German data security legislation and b) might even strive towards violating higher legal values by selling political opinion profiles?
In the face of this, the desire of the BR to “reach… young people” should have less priority.
Sincerely yours,
Dr. Werner Lorbeer
wl
(Translated by EG)