BERLIN — Facebook, facing potential fines for violating strict privacy laws in Germany, agreed on Monday to let users in the country better shield their e-mail contacts from unwanted advertisements and solicitations it sends.
Facebook, which has more than 10 million users in Germany, agreed to modify its Friend Finder service to let Germans better block its ability to contact people, including non-Facebook users culled from a user’s e-mail address books.
Tina Kulow, a Facebook spokeswoman in Hamburg, said users in Germany would now be advised that the site could send solicitations to people on their mailing lists, should they choose to upload their address books to Friend Finder.
Facebook, the world’s largest social networking site, is the second U.S.-based Internet business to modify its operations to suit German privacy laws, which give individuals extensive control over personal data. Google was the first. Last year, facing fines, Google let Germans exclude photos of their homes and apartments from its Street View photographic map archive before the service went live.
Like Google, Facebook decided to change its operation after Johannes Caspar, the data protection supervisor in Hamburg, opened a review of the company’s practices. Violations of German privacy law carry penalties up to €300,000, or $410,000, but adverse publicity can be more damaging.
Mr. Caspar, during an interview, said his office had received “many, many complaints” during the past six months from Germans who had never used Facebook but were still receiving Facebook solicitations because their e-mail addresses had been siphoned from friends.
Full Story: Facebook makes deal with German privacy group