Germany seems to have a problem with new technologies, especially when it comes to privacy and data protection laws, as I’ve commented on before.  I’ve often heard the regulation of the internet here referred to as “out-dated” and sometimes even compared with internet restrictions in China.

As if the situation wasn’t complicated enough, each of the 16 German states has its own Data Protection law and agency, in additional to the national law and Data Protection Officer.  Theoretically, the law can therefore differ from state to state, or at least be interpreted differently.

Which explains why businesses in one part of Germany have had to decide whether to remove their Facebook “Like” button (called “Gefällt mir” in German) from their websites and close their Facebook fan pages.

What is unusual is that [Read more…]