France Upholds $50M Fine Against Google For GDPR Violations (nbcnews.com) 26
An anonymous reader quotes NBC News:
France's highest administrative court has upheld a fine of 50 million euros ($56 million) Google was ordered to pay for not being "sufficiently clear and transparent" with Android users about their data protection options.
Google was first slapped with the fine in January 2019, the first penalty for a U.S. tech giant under new European data privacy rules that took effect in 2018. Google appealed the penalty issued by the French data privacy watchdog to the Council of State, France's final arbiter in such cases.
The council ruled Friday that the National Data Protection Commission had the right to sanction Google and that the fine was not disproportionate, "given the particular seriousness" and duration of Google's failings.
Google was first slapped with the fine in January 2019, the first penalty for a U.S. tech giant under new European data privacy rules that took effect in 2018. Google appealed the penalty issued by the French data privacy watchdog to the Council of State, France's final arbiter in such cases.
The council ruled Friday that the National Data Protection Commission had the right to sanction Google and that the fine was not disproportionate, "given the particular seriousness" and duration of Google's failings.
headline rounded down (Score:2)
Headline: "France Upholds $50M Fine"
First line: "France's highest administrative court has upheld a fine of 50 million euros ($56 million)"
I guess the headling was rounding down.
Re:headline rounded down (Score:4, Insightful)
Re: (Score:2)
Google became involved in insufficient management. (Score:3)
It seems that Google (Alphabet) made so much money that the company needed to get involved in other businesses. The result seems to me to have caused the primary business not to be managed sufficiently.
One foolish decision, in my opinion, was to call the company "Alphabet".
Google laughs all the way to the bank (Score:2)
This is chump change for them. That's probably twice what the French state paid their prosecutors to build the case. In fact, $50M is probably chump change for the French state budget too.
Slap a $50B fine on Google and I'll be impressed. $50M is just posturing.
Re: (Score:2)
$50M is just posturing.
Yes and no. The GDPR is known for a few significant changes, one of them being the dramatic increase in potential fines compared to earlier data protection laws in many European nations where the maximum fines really were a drop in the ocean to a Google or Facebook. Just because they only imposed a fine of $50M this time, that doesn't mean they can't or won't impose a fine of $500M or $5B if the bad behaviour continues or worsens. For an organisation the size of Google, the regulators do have a legal power
Re: Google laughs all the way to the bank (Score:1)
Well I'm sure the local Google France won't simply be shut down and declared bankrupt. That's typically how corporations handle these things, put 2000 people on the street and set up shop under a different corporation.
More importantly (Score:3, Interesting)
So Google's been fined. Great. Now what? Did the court order them to remedy whatever violation they were fined for? Did the court impose inspections to ensure they'll comply? Did the court make provisions for repeat fines if they don't?
How much do you bet Google simply promised never to do it again, and will conduct business as usual anyway?
Re: (Score:2)
The regulator that brought the case will monitor their compliance and return to court if they don't.
Re: (Score:3)
Did the court order them to remedy whatever violation they were fined for?
This isn't some criminal case where double jeopardy kicks in. If the issue isn't remedied then the regulator will fine them again, I'm not sure about you but I've yet to find any regulator in the world who offers discounts for repeat business.
Re:The French Tax (Score:4, Insightful)
Yeah, large companies think that the law does not apply to them and then get fined.
Re: (Score:2)
The maximum penalties allowed by the GDPR are huge. However, it probably requires multiple repeat offenses to get fined that much.
Re:The French Tax (Score:4, Informative)
If they have to drag them into court again, the next fine will likely be larger. If the goal is to get Google to follow the law, it's reasonable to fire a warning shot. But it should be a hit, even if only a minor one, to prove that you actually do mean business.
That's what this was.
Re: The French Tax (Score:4, Insightful)
Re: (Score:3)
High court in France upholds French revenue stream of fleecing foreign tech companies.
Of course it does. The courts usually uphold a 100% completely voluntary tax. The French government thanks Google dearly for their voluntary donation and if Google feels like not donating in the future they are more than welcome to obey the law.
It's almost as if a pattern is developing.
No the pattern was developed in Europe 100s of years ago when governments first formed. Upholding laws and punishing those who break them is a well established pattern. I wonder when Americans will actually start applying that pattern to their organisations. Or are y
Other EU countries (Score:2)
Who else is guilty.... (Score:1)
Our company was aquired by the French and we are US based. I have traveled to France and used my Windows 7/10 laptop that sent telemtry back to Microsoft. Is that a GDPR bomb waiting to explode? If I move to France and have dual citizenship will Microsoft have to search all the things they have store about me and the IP addresses I have used? What about the companies Microsoft has sold my previous years data to? Will they have to tell those companies to delete data?
This makes it sound like they could b
Re: (Score:2)
You don't need dual citizenship, the GDPR applies where the data subject resides in the EU - which also includes foreigners working in the EU, and it also applies to EU residents who travel to a foreign country for tourism...
General (Score:2)
General Data Protection Regulation
Comment (Score:2)