Max Schrems, an Austrian law student and longtime Facebook who has caused him quite a bit of trouble, has filed a class action lawsuit against the social network, which could include up to 1 billion users.
This is possible because he himself issued an invitation to all Facebook users except those residing in Canada and the United States to participate. The number will be truly large, which is quite a large number, considering that only 20% of monthly Facebook users come from these two countries, as Mashable reports.
Schrems filed his complaint in an Austrian court, stating that Facebook has committed a series of privacy violations, including the assistance it provides to the U.S. National Security Agency for collecting user information through the PRISM program. The young student is demanding compensation of 500 € for each user who signs the complaint.
It claims, also, that Facebook violates European personal data protection laws, because it monitors users even from websites that are outside the social network via the “like” buttons.
If the name Schrems is known to Facebook, as this is not the first lawsuit. The student had sued Facebook again last year. Subsequently, he accuses the social network of participants in the PRISM surveillance program and the lawsuit was filed before the Irish Data Protection Commissioner.
The young man is calling on all adult Facebook users outside the United States and Canada to join him in his fight against the world's largest social network. If you want to "sign up" for Schrems' lawsuit, you can do so here.
