The latest policy recommendations for regulating powerful Internet platforms comes from a U.K. House of Lord committee that’s calling for an overarching digital regulator to be set up to plug gaps in domestic legislation and work through any overlaps of rules. “The digital world does not merely require more regulation but a different approach to […]
View More Online platforms need a super regulator and public interest tests for mergers, says UK parliament reportCategory: GDPR
The other smartphone business
With the smartphone operating system market sewn up by Google’s Android platform, which has a close to 90% share globally, leaving Apple’s iOS a slender (but lucrative) premium top-slice, a little company called Jolla and its Linux-based Sailfish OS is a rare sight indeed: A self-styled ‘independent alternative’ that’s still somehow in business. The Finnish […]
View More The other smartphone businessCookie walls don’t comply with GDPR, says Dutch DPA
Cookie walls that demand a website visitor agrees to their Internet browsing being tracked for ad-targeting as the ‘price’ of entry to the site are not compliant with European data protection law, the Dutch data protection agency clarified yesterday. The DPA said it has received dozens of complaints from Internet users who had had their […]
View More Cookie walls don’t comply with GDPR, says Dutch DPAPrivacy complaints received by tech giants’ favorite EU watchdog up more than 2x since GDPR
A report by the lead data watchdog for a large number of tech giants operating in Europe shows a significant increase in privacy complaints and data breach notifications since the region’s updated privacy framework came into force last May. The Irish Data Protection Commission (DPC)’s annual report, published today, covers the period May 25, aka […]
View More Privacy complaints received by tech giants’ favorite EU watchdog up more than 2x since GDPRLinkedIn forced to ‘pause’ mentioned in the news feature in Europe after complaints about ID mix-ups
LinkedIn has been forced to ‘pause’ a feature in Europe in which the platform emails members’ connections when they’ve been ‘mentioned in the news’. The regulatory action follows a number of data protection complaints after LinkedIn’s algorithms incorrect matched members to news articles — triggering a review of the feature and subsequent suspension order. The […]
View More LinkedIn forced to ‘pause’ mentioned in the news feature in Europe after complaints about ID mix-upsPrivacy activists say online ad industry knowingly violated GDPR
Privacy advocates claim that an organization that represents the online ad industry knew they would be violating privacy laws, but did so anyway, in an updated complaint filed against the group as well as Google.
On Tuesday, the group filed new evide…
Facebook warned over privacy risks of merging messaging platforms
Facebook’s lead data protection regulator in Europe has asked the company for an “urgent briefing” regarding plans to integrate the underlying infrastructure of its three social messaging platforms. In a statement posted to its website late last week the Irish Data Protection Commission writes: “Previous proposals to share data between Facebook companies have given rise […]
View More Facebook warned over privacy risks of merging messaging platformsFacebook’s VPN app puts spotlight on kids’ consent
Facebook could face fresh scrutiny in Europe following a TechCrunch report on its use of a VPN app to monitor people’s smartphone activity — including teenagers as young as 13. The Irish Data Protection Commission (DPC) told us it’s asked Facebook to provide more information on what data is collected via the market research program, codenamed ‘Project […]
View More Facebook’s VPN app puts spotlight on kids’ consentGoogle, online ad industry accused of abusing intimate personal data in GDPR complaint
Today is International Privacy Day! To celebrate, a group of online privacy activists have set their sites on Google and the online advertising industry.
New evidence filed today in a GDPR complaint by the group of activists discloses how Google and other online ad auction companies unlawfully profile internet users’ diseases, disabilities, sexual orientation, ethnicities, and religion.
When a user visits a website that serves advertising, their personal data is often shared with thousands of third-party companies that take part in an automated auction. The advertising systems categorize each user based on what they’re reading, watching, or searching for. This info is then shared with the third parties who bid to get their ads shown to these specific users. Read more…
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View More Google, online ad industry accused of abusing intimate personal data in GDPR complaintGoogle and IAB ad category lists show “massive leakage of highly intimate data”, GDPR complaint claims
Male impotence, substance abuse, right-wing politics, left-wing politics, sexually transmitted diseases, cancer, mental health. Those are just a few of the advertising labels that Google’s adtech infrastructure routinely sticks to Internet users as it watches and tracks what they do online in order to target them with behavioral ads. Intimate and highly sensitive inferences such […]
View More Google and IAB ad category lists show “massive leakage of highly intimate data”, GDPR complaint claimsHas the fight over privacy changed at all in 2019?
Few issues divide the tech community quite like privacy. Much of Silicon Valley’s wealth has been built on data-driven advertising platforms, and yet, there remain constant concerns about the invasiveness of those platforms. Such concerns have intensified in just the last few weeks as France’s privacy regulator placed a record fine on Google under Europe’s […]
View More Has the fight over privacy changed at all in 2019?French data protection watchdog fines Google $57 million under the GDPR
The CNIL, the French data protection watchdog, has issued its first GDPR fine of $57 million (€50 million). The regulatory body claims that Google has failed to comply with the General Data Protection Regulation (GDPR) when new Android users set up a new phone and follow Android’s onboarding process. Two nonprofit organizations called ‘None Of […]
View More French data protection watchdog fines Google $57 million under the GDPR