Ireland to audit major social networking firms

Ireland's Data Protection Commissioner, Billy Hawkes, has announced that he will audit major social media companies. Ireland has a significant responsibility for the rest of Europe, as many of these companies have
located their European headquarters in Ireland and these firms, therefore, fall under its jurisdiction. LinkedIn and Twitter would be among those to be audited. The office completed its audit on Facebook
last year.

According to the Commissioner's office, an organisation selected for audit is usually given a few weeks notice of the audit. It may be asked to provide in advance a written report on its data protection practices.
The audit normally includes one or more on-site visits by an audit team from the Office. The organisation audited is given an opportunity to comment on the audit report before it is finalised.

Commissioner Billy Hawkes will speak about this topic at PL&B's 26th Annual International Conference in Cambridge 1-3 July 2013.