Belgium gives Facebook 48 hours to stop tracking non-users or pay €250K per day

Rt.com reports: A Belgian court has given Facebook 48 hours to stop tracking the online activities of non-Facebook users in Belgium unless they have their explicit consent or face a daily fine of €250,000. The internet giant has pledged to appeal the decision. “If a surfer doesn’t have an own Facebook account, Facebook from now on will have to explicitly solicit consent and provide the needed explanations,” the Brussels court of first instance said. Monday’s ruling follows a months-long suit that started in June when Belgium’s data protection regulator accused Facebook of violating EU privacy law by tracking people without their consent using the so-called ‘datr’ cookie. The tracking cookie was placed on an internet user’s system when they visited a Facebook.com site or ‘Liked’ a page on other websites. This allows Facebook to monitor the user’s browsing habits in order to better target advertising to them. The Brussels court ordered the Silicon Valley company to stop their tracking activities in Belgium within 48 hours or pay a daily fine of up to €250,000...