Google is under attack by several data protection regulators across the world.
The Australian Competition and Consumer Commission (ACCC) has launched legal proceedings against Google, alleging that it misled Australian consumers in order to obtain their consent to use their personal data. In addition, the ACCC alleges that Google misled consumers in relation to a related change to its privacy policy. These court proceedings are the latest example of competition and privacy authorities’ scrutiny of Google’s activities in the online advertising market.
In the EU, Google came under attack from the French data protection authority who issued a €50 million last year and the Irish data protection authority is now investigating whether Google’s processing of location data and transparency measures comply with GDPR.
In the USA Google is currently facing an investigation by a group of 48 State Attorneys General, as well as one by the California Attorney General and another by the US Justice Department, all of which are understood to concern its use of personal data to achieve dominance in the online advertising market.
Insight
These various proceedings have in common, amongst other things, an increasing recognition that personal data have a financial value, something which could is likely to have very significant implications for all organisations in the future.
If your organisation is looking to comply with the requirements of the GDPR then take a look at how our CSaaS and DPaaS solutions can help.
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