An Austrian court has dismissed a class action suit concerning Facebook’s privacy policy, saying it has no jurisdiction over the case.

The decision is a blow to Europe-v-Facebook, the privacy campaign group whose front-man, Max Schrems, filed the suit, and to the 25,000 Facebook users who had assigned their claims against the company to the case.

Schrems, an Austrian national, filed suit against Facebook in the Vienna Commercial Court, which referred the case to the Vienna Regional Court.

The suit accused Facebook Ireland, which is responsible for processing the data of Facebook users outside the U.S. and Canada, of violating European data protection laws with its privacy policy and various other ways it collects and uses personal data of its users.

Austrian legislation doesn’t provide for U.S.-style class-action lawsuits, but Schrems invited other Facebook users outside the U.S. and Canada to join his lawsuit. Some25,000 joined him, claiming damages of €500 (US$560) each, and another 60,000 registered to join the case at a later stage.

The Vienna Regional Court dismissed the case on the grounds it had no jurisdiction. Despite the geopolitical complexity of the case—an Austrian suing the Irish subsidiary of a U.S. company with supporters of many nationalities—the court’s lack of jurisdiction had nothing to do with national borders. Instead, it said, it couldn’t accept the case because Schrems is not a consumer.

Read the Full Article: Source – PC World
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