French supervisory authority imposes fine of millions on Google and Amazon
French privacy regulator CNIL has fined Amazon and Google for placing tracking cookies without the permission of users. Both tech giants thus violated privacy rules.
What are tracking cookies and what do they do?
A tracking cookie is a web file that is placed on the internet user’s device (computer, tablet, telephone, etc.) when they visit a website. Tracking cookies track the user’s surfing habits on the website.
Customised advertisements and offering
The ability to identify users is very valuable to websites and advertisers. Websites can adapt the offering to the user and show personalised advertisements based on user information collected by the tracking cookies.
Permission to place tracking cookies
Tracking cookies may only be placed if the user has given permission for this. The user must give permission for the placing and use of tracking cookies by means of an unambiguous and active action. For example, a pre-checked ‘yes’ field when the user is asked for permission is not permitted. Read more about this on the Dutch Data Protection Authority website.
Fine for breaching privacy regulations
French privacy regulator CNIL asserted that both Google and Amazon had breached privacy regulations by placing cookies on users’ devices without first requesting permission to do this. Users were also not correctly informed about processing of the data collected. Google was fined 100 million for failing to inform users. Amazon must pay 35 million. According to CNIL, the tech giant did inform users about tracking cookies, but not adequately.
European Commission investigates abuse of power by tech giants
The European Commission is currently investigating whether Amazon abused its dominant position by collecting the data of third parties that sell via the platform. The European Commission previously imposed various fines on Google, including a fine of 1.49 billion Euros for obstructing competing advertisers with AdSense, Google’s advertising section.