Germany takes legal steps against Facebook

BERLIN: A German data protection official has filed a legal complaint against Facebook, saying people have been griping that their private information was saved by the personal networking site without their knowledge or consent.

Johannes Caspar said Wednesday that his Hamburg data protection office has taken legal steps against Facebook which could result in it being fined for saving private information of individuals who don't use the site and haven't granted it access to their details.

Caspar says his office received complaints from people who had been contacted by Facebook after it obtained their name and e-mail address through people listing them as a contact.

Facebook has until Aug. 11 to respond formally to the legal complaint.