GDPR in the News

Google fined £44m over ads.

The record fine was given for lack of transparency, inadequate information and lack of valid consent regarding ads personalisation.

No Valid Consent

The GDPR regulator said Google failed to obtain a valid legal basis to process user data. It said the option to personalise ads was “pre-ticked” when creating an account, which did not respect the GDPR rules.

“The user gives his or her consent in full, for all the processing operations purposes carried out by Google based on this consent (ads personalisation, speech recognition, etc).

“However, the GDPR provides that the consent is ‘specific’ only if it is given distinctly for each purpose.” The regulator said it was Google’s “utmost responsibility to comply with the obligations on the matter”.

Should you be worried?

The numbers show that GDPR related complaints and data breach notifications issued to data protection authorities in Europe are on the rise. People are becoming more aware of the importance of data protection and of their rights.

Since the GDPR’s implementation last May, the number of related complaints rose slowly to about 60,000 and hovered there through November. The graph shows another spike through December and January, bringing the total number of complaints to 95,180. Most complaints referenced some form of telemarketing, promotional emails or video surveillance.