FTC is forcing tech firms to kill their algorithms along with ill-gotten data
The Federal Trade Commission is punching right at the heart – and guts – of how data collection drives revenue for tech firms: their algorithms.
sanctions
Norwegian DPA fines company for accessing former employee’s e-mail inbox
The manager of the enterprise had changed the password and logged on to the complainant’s e-mail account every day for a period of six weeks after the employment had ended. Norwegian DPA found that the enterprise lacks a legal basis for accessing e-mail in this manner.
French Spyware Executives Are Indicted for Aiding Torture
The managers are accused of selling tech to Libya and Egypt that was used to identify activists, read private messages, and kidnap, torture, or kill them.
Amazon Faces Possible $425 Million EU Privacy Fine
Luxembourg has circulated a draft decision sanctioning Amazon’s privacy practices and proposing the fine among the bloc’s 26 other national authorities.
Austrian DPA has option to fine Google up to €6 billion
Google continues to send data from EU websites to the US – despite two Court of Justice rulings.
Data Scraping in EU Regulators’ Sights As Spain Orders Equifax to Delete Information
Spain’s data protection authority recently ordered Equifax Inc. to delete data it collected this way and pay a fine of about $1.1 million for using in credit reports publicly available information from tax authorities and other government sources about individuals’ outstanding debts.
Disqus facing $3M fine in Norway for tracking users without consent
Disqus, a commenting plug-in that’s used by a number of news websites and which can share user data for ad targeting purposes, is in hot water in Norway for tracking users without their consent.
Irish DPA leaves 99,93% of GDPR complaints without decision
Irish data protection authority acknowledged in Irish Parliament hearing it “handles” GDPR complaints by not deciding about them, in violation of EU law.
Enschede council fined for snooping on citizens via their phones
The Dutch privacy watchdog has fined Enschede local council for tracking its residents using their mobile phones
Italian DPA fines Fastweb $5.3M under GDPR for aggressive telemarketing
The Italian Data Protection Authority (“Garante”) on April 2 announced a fine of €4.5 million (U.S. $5.3 million) against telecommunications company Fastweb for misusing customer data for telemarketing purposes.
French data watchdog to start checking cookie policy compliance
France’s data protection watchdog CNIL will from 1st April begin conducting checks to ensure websites are in compliance with new guidelines on advertising trackers after the deadline it granted expired.
MEPs rue lack of GDPR sanctions issued by Irish data authority
MEPs have said that “a lack of political will and resources” had resulted in a laggard approach to enforcement of the EU’s general data protection regulation (GDPR).