German Supervisory Authorities Publish Opinion on Subscription Websites
On March 22, 2023, the German Conference of Independent Supervisory Authorities (“SAs”) issued an opinion concerning websites that offer visitors two options: a free version which tracks user behavior or a paid version without monitoring.
For the free service to meet the requirements of the General Data Protection Regulation (GDPR), explicit consent must be gained from the users for tracking their data and this consent should not cover all different processing purposes but instead each purpose should be opted into separately. Furthermore, in order to ensure equivalence between the free and paid versions, access to the same service must be provided in both cases and in exchange for a standard market fee.
Finally, the SAs have released guidance for telemedia providers which states the processes of personal data collection through tracking must abide by GDPR regulations and this was confirmed by the Italian Supervisory Authority (Garante), who investigated similar practices in October 2022.
Source: German Supervisory Authorities Publish Opinion on (Paid) Subscription Websites | Inside Privacy
