Belgian appeals court sides with Facebook in privacy case.

• Position: CLOUD COMPUTING

The Court of Appeal in Belgium has ruled that Belgium's Privacy Commission does not have jurisdiction over Facebook's tracking. At issue was a lawsuit brought by the commission to prevent Facebook's tracking of the online activity of non-Facebook users in Belgium who visit Facebook pubhc pages. The court said that the privacy commission cannot stop Facebook from tracking non-Facebook users who visit its pages.

Facebook argued that only the Irish Data Protection Commissioner has jurisdiction over how it uses Europeans' data because its European headquarters is located in Ireland, according to Legaltech News. The appeals court agreed that the Belgian Privacy Commission does not have jurisdiction over Facebook.

Facebook contended that the cookies at issue in the case are necessary to protect its platform and the data of its users against attacks, but the argument garnered claims that the company was violating European privacy laws by tracking the web activity of individuals who...