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☆ Unlocking health and life sciences' potential with cloud solutions
▼ + stars: | 2024-04-16 | by ( Sponsor Post | Created Insider Studios With | ) www.businessinsider.com time to read: +4 min

In today's digitally driven world, data has become the lifeblood of the healthcare and life sciences industry. However, the industry's complex data ecosystem, coupled with stringent regulations and privacy concerns, has historically hindered unlocking the full potential of data in healthcare and life sciences. The data dilemmaHealthcare and life sciences are data-rich domains, encompassing patient records, claims, genomic sequencing, wearable device data, medical imaging, and more. Moving to the cloudMoving data infrastructure to the cloud offers a compelling solution to many of the challenges faced by healthcare and life sciences organizations. Centralizing data in the cloud facilitates seamless access and collaboration between healthcare providers, payers, researchers, and life sciences organizations.

Organizations: Life Sciences, Insider Studios Locations: United States, Europe, Snowflake

☆ US lawmakers unveil a plan to give all Americans a right to online privacy
▼ + stars: | 2024-04-08 | by ( Brian Fung | ) edition.cnn.com time to read: +5 min

Washington CNN —Two leading US lawmakers have reached a bipartisan deal that could, for the first time, grant all Americans a basic right to digital privacy and create a national law regulating how companies can collect, share and use Americans’ online data. But it could also override some of the toughest state-based privacy laws in the nation, such as in California. And it would guarantee Americans the right to request copies of their data, to correct it or even to have it deleted from a company’s records. The draft legislation breaks a yearslong deadlock between Republicans and Democrats over the scope of any national privacy bill. It would preempt more than a dozen state privacy laws already on the books in states such as California, Texas and Virginia.

Persons: hoover, Washington Sen, Maria Cantwell, Cathy McMorris Rodgers, —, ’, Biden, we’ve, ”, McMorris Rodgers, Cantwell, Joe Biden’s Organizations: Washington CNN, General Data Protection, Republicans, Democratic, Senate, Committee, Washington Rep, Republican, House Energy, Commerce, Democrats Locations: United States, California, China, Russia, California , Texas, Virginia

☆ Wirecard tried to destroy its whistleblower. Now, he's founded a startup to protect others who speak out.
▼ + stars: | 2024-03-29 | by ( Riddhi Kanetkar | ) www.businessinsider.com time to read: +6 min

Read previewBeing a whistleblower was antithetical to everything Pav Gill had done during his nine-year stint as a corporate lawyer. When Wirecard headhunted the Singaporean native to be its head of legal, Gill took up the position enthusiastically. Despite the fruitful outcome, the experience of being a whistleblower traumatized Gill. AdvertisementThis realization was the driving force behind Gill setting up his startup — Confide — a platform for 'internal whistleblowers' to raise issues within their organizations. AdvertisementGill anticipates that this model will work best for companies with over 50 employees, and ideally above 250 employees.

Persons: —, Pav Gill, Gill, foraying, Wirecard, Gill's, don't, " Gill, they're Organizations: Service, Allen, Business, Financial, Directive, EU Locations: Wirecard, Asia, Singapore, ESG

☆ Snowflake is doubling down on data clean room tech as it forges deeper ties with the ad industry
▼ + stars: | 2024-03-28 | by ( Lara O'Reilly | ) www.businessinsider.com time to read: +6 min

"Our expectation in the next year is that people will be talking less about the tech and actually understand the value," of Snowflake's data clean room, Stratton said. The clean room space is competitive and marketers intend to spend more on the techUltimately a data clean room is only as valuable as the customers who share data within it — even when it's being offered for free. "Clean rooms are no longer competing against other clean rooms only," said Wayne Blodwell, the CEO of the programmatic advertising company Impact Media. AdvertisementThe global data clean room market has accelerated in the last two years. The report found that these companies, on average, spent $879,000 on data clean room tech in 2022.

Persons: —, influencers, Kamakshi Sivaramakrishnan, Samooha, AdExchanger, Sivaramakrishnan, Snowflake, Bill Stratton, Snowflake's, Time Warner, Stratton, it's, Wayne Blodwell, Sridhar Ramaswamy Organizations: Service, Business, Amazon Web Services, Microsoft, Snowflake Ventures, LinkedIn, Google, Time, Impact Media, Deloitte Digital Locations: Snowflake, Samooha

☆ Europe is trying to regulate AI. That could backfire.
▼ + stars: | 2024-03-14 | by ( Beatrice Nolan | ) www.businessinsider.com time to read: +4 min

One AI expert said it risks creating "AI policy tax havens" as countries try to attract investment. "Europe is NOW a global standard-setter in AI," Thierry Breton, the European internal market commissioner, said on X. Other countries, including China, have already brought in rules around specific uses of AI. AdvertisementThe legislation has been questioned by some commentators, such as AI and deepfakes expert Henry Ajder, who called it "very ambitious." The EU legislation plans to assign the risks of AI applications into three categories, with applications that cause unacceptable risk set to be banned.

Persons: —, Thierry Breton, Henry Ajder, Neil Serebryany, Avani Desai, Schellman, Marcus Evans, Norton Rose Fulbright Organizations: EU, Intelligence, Service Locations: Europe, China, EU, California

So we have to talk about the drama that has been playing out in the past week between OpenAI and Elon Musk. According to OpenAI, Elon Musk wanted majority, equity, initial board control, and to be CEO of this new for-profit subsidiary. It’s basically —casey newtonIt’s like, I’m going to find a way to follow your rule, but in the worst way possible. Like, working was one I thought that, oh, I’m going to work in this all the time. kevin roose[LAUGHS]: Well, I thought, like, I’m going to take some spatial videos.

Persons: casey newton Casey, kevin roose, casey newton, Kevin, casey newton What’s, Kevin Roose, Casey Newton, OpenAI, Will, Joanna Stern, Casey, it’s, kevin roose I’m, Elon Musk, It’s, casey newton Let’s, Elon, he’s, I’ve, casey newton What’d, there’s, you’ve, we’re, GPT, Sam Altman’s, that’s, AGI, Annie “, Sam Altman, who’s, isn’t, “, we’ve, ” casey newton Go, He’s, Ilya Sutskever, Greg Brockman, Ilya, casey newton Yes, Tesla, casey newton Well, they’ll, casey newton Oh, kevin roose It’s, don’t, kevin roose Will, casey newton Right, casey newton Mhm, kevin roose They’re, Microsoft’s Bing, Microsoft Bing, Bing, Apple, Europe — casey newton, Charles Duhigg, John Gruber, they’ve, casey newton It’d, — casey newton, they’re, They’ve, you’ll, Apple’s, casey newton It’s, I’ll, casey newton Sure, GDPR, you’re, kevin roose Really, let’s, kevin roose Casey, kevin roose —, Jonah Stern, casey newton Wow, Joanna, Let’s, kevin roose Joanna Stern, joanna, casey newton Hi, kevin roose Long, joanna stern, —, kevin roose We’re, Kara Swisher, kevin roose Don’t, I’m, casey newton Don’t, casey newton That’s, Neil Patel, Um, kevin roose That’s, kevin roose Sure, casey newton Great, KEVIN, IV, wearables, Fitbits, kevin roose Oh, hadn’t, casey newton —, casey newton I’ve, Joe Rogan Organizations: The New York Times, Elon, Apple’s, OpenAI, Microsoft, Google, Google’s, Facebook, Tesla, Big, European Union, Digital Services, Giants, Apple, Digital Markets, EU, Bloomberg, Digital, Spotify, General, Apple Vision Pro, Street, Apple Vision, Vision, New York Times, “, Housewives, Club, Ray, Tesla Chargers, Vision Pro, Apple Watch, Sony Locations: Los Angeles, Europe, what’s, Elon, OpenAI, Japan, South Korea, Turkey, United Kingdom, United States, Reddit, American, America, California, Florida, United, Mars, The

☆ Meta accused of ‘massive, illegal’ data collection operation by European consumer rights groups
▼ + stars: | 2024-02-29 | by ( Anna Cooban | ) edition.cnn.com time to read: +3 min

London CNN —European consumer rights groups have accused Meta, the owner of Facebook and Instagram, of carrying out a “massive” and “illegal” operation of collecting data from hundreds of millions of users in the region. The European Consumer Organisation (BEUC), an umbrella body for 45 consumer groups, said eight of the groups were filing complaints with their respective national data protection authorities Thursday. The company’s practices, the groups argue, breach parts of the European Union’s signature data privacy law, the General Data Protection Regulation or GDPR. Several days later, Meta launched a subscription service allowing its European users to pay up to €12.99 ($14) a month to use ad-free versions of Facebook and Instagram. The organization filed a complaint with European consumer protection authorities in November, arguing that this “pay-or-consent” approach was an example of an unfair and “aggressive” commercial practice prohibited under EU law.

Persons: Meta, “, Ursula Pachl, Brian Fung Organizations: London CNN, Facebook, European Consumer Organisation, General Data, CNN, Meta Locations: Europe, United States

☆ A college is removing its vending machines after a student discovered they were using facial recognition technology
▼ + stars: | 2024-02-25 | by ( Lauren Edmonds | ) www.businessinsider.com time to read: +4 min

A university in Canada is expected to remove a series of vending machines from campus after a student discovered a sign they used facial recognition technology. The smart vending machines at the University of Waterloo first gained attention this month when Reddit user SquidKid47 shared a photo. Stanley investigated the smart vending machines, discovering that they're provided by Adaria Vending Services and manufactured by Invenda Group. Canadian publication CTV News reported that Mars, owner of M&M's, owns the vending machines. AdvertisementIn response to the student publication's report, the director of technology services for Adaria Vending Services told MathNEWS that "an individual person cannot be identified using the technology in the machines."

Persons: SquidKid47, Stanley, MathNEWS, Adaria, MathNews, we've, Rebecca Elming, TikTok Organizations: University of Waterloo, Business, University, Waterloo, Ars Technica, Adaria Vending Services, Invenda Group, CTV News, Data, Invenda, Guardian, DePaul University Locations: Canada, China

☆ French regulator fines Amazon unit $35 million for 'excessively intrusive' employee surveillance
▼ + stars: | 2024-01-23 | by ( Jenni Reid | ) www.cnbc.com time to read: +1 min

An Amazon logistic site in Bretigny-sur-Orge, some 30 km south of Paris, pictured on November 22, 2023. A French regulator announced Tuesday it had fined the manager of Amazon's large warehouses in France 32 million euros ($34.7 million) for excessive monitoring of its employees. The French Data Protection Authority (CNIL) said Amazon France Logistique gave employees scanners in order to record workplace tasks such as removing items from shelves and packing. This data was then used to calculate the "quality, productivity and periods of inactivity of each employee." CNIL said Amazon France Logistique committed several breaches of the European Union's General Data Protection Regulation (GDPR), specifically around data minimization and lawful processing.

Persons: Logistique, CNIL Organizations: French Data Protection Authority, Amazon, Data Protection, CNBC Locations: Bretigny, Paris, French, France

☆ Can an AI chatbot be convicted of an illegal wiretap? A case against Gap's Old Navy may answer that
▼ + stars: | 2023-12-03 | by ( Ellen Sheng | ) www.cnbc.com time to read: +5 min

The suit also alleges that Old Navy unlawfully shares consumer data with third parties without informing consumers or seeking consent. Old Navy, through its parent company Gap, declined to comment. Old Navy isn't the only one to face similar charges. For now, states have different privacy rules, but there is no unifying federal-level regulation about online privacy. With no comprehensive federal online privacy legislation, companies are free to charge ahead without having to put privacy protections in place.

Persons: Irina Raicu, Raicu, It's, Ari Lightman Organizations: Navy, Central District of, Old, Home Depot, General Motors, Ford, JCPenney, Markkula Center, Applied, Santa Clara University . Companies, Companies, JPMorgan, Verizon, Old Navy, Carnegie Mellon University's Heinz College Locations: Central District, Central District of California, California, U.S, Europe, Canada, Europe . Colorado , Connecticut , Utah, Virginia, Delaware, Florida, Iowa

☆ Italy's privacy regulator looks into online data gathering to train AI
▼ + stars: | 2023-11-22 | by ( ) www.reuters.com time to read: +2 min

AI (Artificial Intelligence) letters are placed on computer motherboard in this illustration taken, June 23, 2023. REUTERS/Dado Ruvic/Illustration/File Photo Acquire Licensing RightsMILAN, Nov 22 (Reuters) - Italy's data protection authority has kicked-off a fact-finding investigation into the practice of gathering large amounts of personal data online for use in training artificial intelligence (AI) algorithms, the regulator said on Wednesday. The watchdog is one of the most proactive of the 31 national data protection authorities in assessing AI platform compliance with Europe's data privacy regime known as the General Data Protection Regulation (GDPR). Earlier this year, it briefly banned popular chatbot ChatGPT from operating in Italy over a suspected breach of privacy rules. "Following the fact-finding investigation, the Authority reserves the right to take the necessary steps, also in an urgent matter", the regulator said.

Persons: Dado Ruvic, Elvira Pollina, Mark Potter Organizations: REUTERS, General Data Protection, Authority, Reuters, Thomson Locations: Italy, France, Germany

☆ EU clamps down on Meta’s use of personal data for targeted ads
▼ + stars: | 2023-11-01 | by ( Brian Fung | ) edition.cnn.com time to read: +3 min

CNN —Meta will soon be forced to seek European users’ consent before using their personal information to deliver those users targeted advertisements on Facebook and Instagram. A European Union-wide ban announced Wednesday dealing with Meta’s handling of user data proposes blanket restrictions which could be finalized as soon as late next week. The restrictions were announced by the European Data Protection Board (EDPB), a group of EU data regulators representing numerous countries in the bloc. Under EU rules known as the General Data Protection Regulation (GDPR), Meta must cite one of several specific legal justifications in order to collect and use people’s personal data for advertising. It directs the Irish Data Protection Commission, Meta’s primary privacy regulator in Europe, to issue a final rule on the matter by Nov. 10.

Persons: Meta, It’s, “ Meta, “, ”, Anu Organizations: CNN, Facebook, European Data Protection, EU, General Data Protection, Meta, Irish Data Protection Locations: Europe

☆ How generative AI's uncomfortable relationship with copyright law will determine the future of the industry
▼ + stars: | 2023-11-01 | by ( Riddhi Kanetkar | Tasmin Lockwood | ) www.businessinsider.com time to read: +7 min

Rights holders argue that AI using their work without a license should be considered "unauthorized derivative work" — an infringement of copyright law. Meanwhile, AI startups insist that their models comply with fair-use doctrine, which grants them some leeway to others' works. This month, Universal Music Group sued the AI startup Athropic for circulating copyrighted lyrics. He believes that future regulations may explicitly forbid AI data scraping. "They can train models on data that's not universally available to customers, and tell them it's licensed and compliant."

Persons: Eva Toorenent, who's, that's, Simon Menashy, Menashy, Ekaterina Almasque, OpenOcean Almasque, Getty, Sunny Dhillon, Harvey, Horowitz, Andre Retterath, GDPR, CCPA, Taylor, Swift Organizations: Universal Music Group, Getty, Harvard Business, MMC Ventures, Kyber Knight Capital, Nvidia, Earlybird Venture Locations: what's, Europe

☆ Facebook and Instagram get ad-free subscription service in Europe
▼ + stars: | 2023-10-30 | by ( Arjun Kharpal | ) www.cnbc.com time to read: +2 min

People in the European Union, which includes 27 countries, the European Economic Area and Switzerland, will be able to pay 9.99 euros ($11) per month on the web or 12.99 euros ($14) per month month on iOS and Android to access the ad-free version of Facebook and Instagram. Meta said on Monday it will offer an ad-free subscription option for Facebook and Instagram in Europe after it faced a major challenge from regulators in the region this year. Meta said the introduction of the subscription service is aimed at addressing regulatory concerns. Meta pointed to this ruling as a reason for introducing the subscription offer. "In its ruling, the CJEU (European Court of Justice) expressly recognised that a subscription model, like the one we are announcing, is a valid form of consent for an ads funded service," Meta wrote.

Persons: Meta Organizations: European Union, European Economic, Facebook, General Data, Meta, of Justice Locations: Switzerland, Europe

☆ Tesla rival Xpeng presses ahead with driver-assist rollout in China, Europe
▼ + stars: | 2023-10-26 | by ( Evelyn Cheng | ) www.cnbc.com time to read: +1 min

An Xpeng G9 electric vehicle at the Xpeng pavilion in the Open Space area during the Munich Motor Show (IAA) in Munich, Germany, on Sept. 5, 2023. BEIJING — Chinese electric car company Xpeng said this week it plans to roll out driver-assist technology in Europe by the end of next year, and remains on track with plans to expand the tech to 50 cities in China by year-end. U.S.-based Tesla 's version for city streets — called Full Self-Driving Beta — has yet to be released in China and it's unclear how many of the driver-assist features are available in Europe. Xpeng needs time to test and localize its driver-assist software in Europe, Brian Gu, honorary vice chairman of Xpeng's board of directors and co-president, told reporters Wednesday. He said the startup is cooperating with EU regulators on their recently announced probe into subsidies at Chinese electric vehicle companies, and the company is taking a "stringent approach" to comply with Europe's GDPR data protection rules.

Persons: Xpeng, Tesla, Brian Gu Locations: Munich, Germany, BEIJING, Europe, China, U.S

☆ Aindo uses generative AI to develop synthetic data. Check out the 13-slide pitch deck used to secured $6 million.
▼ + stars: | 2023-10-18 | by ( Riddhi Kanetkar | ) www.businessinsider.com time to read: +2 min

A startup that uses generative AI to create synthetic data has just nabbed $6 million in Series A funding from United Ventures. Italian startup Aindo, which launched in 2018, has developed and patented a technology which can generate artificial data, which mimics the characteristics and patterns of the original dataset. This can then be used to train AI models across a range of industries. IBy 2024, 60% of the data used for AI will be synthetic, according to estimates from Gartner. Europe's data protection laws also mean that acquiring certain data points – such as medical records or patient details — is difficult.

Persons: Daniele Panfilo, Panfilo, Aindo's, Aindo Organizations: United Ventures, Gartner

☆ Why Meta, X and TikTok face more pressure from Europe than the U.S. on Israel-Hamas war disinformation
▼ + stars: | 2023-10-13 | by ( Lauren Feiner | ) www.cnbc.com time to read: +6 min

Days after the Israel-Hamas war erupted last weekend, social media platforms like Meta , TikTok and X (formerly Twitter) received a stark warning from a top European regulator to stay vigilant about disinformation and violent posts related to the conflict. In that case, the AGs argued that the Biden administration was overly coercive in its suggestions to social media companies that they remove such posts. In the U.S., "we can't have government officials leaning on social media platforms and telling them, 'You really should be looking at this more closely. Under the DSA, large online platforms must have robust procedures for removing hate speech and disinformation, though they must be balanced against free expression concerns. A series of letters from New York AG Letitia James to several social media sites on Thursday exemplifies how U.S. officials may try to walk that line.

Persons: Thierry Breton, Breton, Elon Musk, Biden, David Greene, they're, Kevin Goldberg, Goldberg, Christoph Schmon, Greene, New York AG Letitia James, James Organizations: Digital Services, Republican, AGs, White, Federal Bureau of, Electronic Frontier Foundation Civil, Freedom, EFF, DSA, New York AG, Google, CNBC, YouTube, EU's, Twitter Locations: Israel, U.S, New, Europe

“This legislation will help tackle the risks of social media affecting our children and protect their privacy.”The regulations sought by James and Gov. The legislation in New York also follows actions taken by other U.S. states this year to curb social media use among children. In March, Utah became the first state to pass laws that require minors to get parental consent before using social media. The U.S. Supreme Court is preparing to decide whether state attempts to regulate social media platforms violate the Constitution. The justices will review two laws from Florida and Texas that mostly aim to prevent social platforms from censoring users based on their viewpoints.

Persons: Letitia James, “, ” James, Kathy Hochul, Kathleen Spence, Spence, ” Spence, Antigone Davis, Meta’s, ”, Carl Szabo, NetChoice, James, TikTok, . Indiana, Maysoon Khan, Kelvin Chan Organizations: YouTube, James, New York Child Data, ”, European Union, Digital Services, General Data, EU, Regulators, The, Meta, TikTok, U.S, Supreme, Associated Press Locations: York, “ Young, Europe, California, New York, Utah, Arkansas, ., Florida, Texas, Albany, London

☆ Meta considers paid subscription for users in EU to bypass targeted ads
▼ + stars: | 2023-10-03 | by ( Samantha Murphy Kelly | ) edition.cnn.com time to read: +2 min

CNN —Instagram and Facebook users in the European Union may soon be able to opt out of targeted ads if they pay for a monthly subscription. Over the last year, the EU has tightened regulations and will require big tech companies to ask users for their consent around such advertising. Meta has previously argued that its data collection for advertising is needed for fulfilling the “contracts” between the platform and end users to provide service. Melina Mara/The Washington Post/Getty ImagesThe Wall Street Journal recently reported Meta aims to charge about $14 a month to users who want to bypass targeted ads on Instagram on their phones and $17 to access both Facebook and Instagram without ads, to comply with EU regulations. “Meta believes in the value of free services which are supported by personalized ads,” the company said in a statement.

Persons: CNN — Instagram, Melina Mara, Meta, ” Organizations: CNN, European Union, Meta, EU, Facebook, Data Protection, Irish Data Protection, Washington Post, Street Journal Locations: European, Europe, San Francisco , California

☆ Finland lifts ban on transferring Yandex data to Russia
▼ + stars: | 2023-09-26 | by ( ) www.reuters.com time to read: +2 min

The logo of Russian technology giant Yandex is on display at the company's headquarters in Moscow, Russia December 9, 2022. REUTERS/Evgenia Novozhenina/File Photo Acquire Licensing RightsOSLO, Sept 26 (Reuters) - Finland's data protection regulator said on Tuesday it had lifted a temporary ban on Russian tech group Yandex (YNDX.O) and Dutch-based partner Ridetech from transferring to Russia the personal data of customers of Yandex's Yango ride-hailing app. The emergency ban was announced in August in response to Russian legislation which Finland at the time believed would give Russia's Federal Security Service the right to receive data from Finnish users processed in taxi operations. Yango has said it processes data in strict compliance with General Data Protection Regulation (GDPR) and EU legislation, and that Russia in any case had no jurisdiction over the company's international business. Norway had also planned a similar ban to the one issued by Finland but had not issued a formal order and will refrain from doing so, a spokesperson for the Norwegian Data Protection Agency said.

Persons: Evgenia, Ridetech, Yango, Terje Solsvik, Ros Russell Organizations: REUTERS, Rights, Federal Security Service, Yandex, General Data Protection, Norwegian Data Protection Agency, Thomson Locations: Moscow, Russia, Rights OSLO, Finland, Finnish, Norway

☆ Poland investigates OpenAI over privacy concerns
▼ + stars: | 2023-09-21 | by ( ) www.reuters.com time to read: +2 min

A keyboard is placed in front of a displayed OpenAI logo in this illustration taken February 21, 2023. REUTERS/Dado Ruvic/Illustration/File Photo Acquire Licensing RightsCompanies Openai LLC FollowMicrosoft Corp FollowWARSAW, Sept 21 (Reuters) - A Polish watchdog is investigating Microsoft-backed (MSFT.O) OpenAI over a complaint that its ChatGPT chatbot breaks European Union data protection laws known as the GDPR, it said. OpenAI has already faced at least its second class action lawsuit in San Francisco federal court for allegedly breaking privacy laws. "The case concerns the violation of many provisions on the protection of personal data, so we will ask Open AI to answer a number of questions," said Jan Nowak, President of Poland's Personal Data Protection Office (UODO). The complainant said they were unable to find out which of their personal data was processed by the company, and received evasive and misleading answers to questions.

Persons: Dado Ruvic, OpenAI, Jan Nowak, UODO, ChatGPT, Alan Charlish, Jan Harvey Organizations: REUTERS, Microsoft, Google, Thomson Locations: WARSAW, San Francisco federal

☆ TikTok fined 345 million euros over handling of children's data in Europe
▼ + stars: | 2023-09-15 | by ( ) www.reuters.com time to read: +3 min

EU flag and TikTok logo are seen in this illustration taken, June 2, 2023. REUTERS/Dado Ruvic/Illustration/File Photo Acquire Licensing RightsCompanies TikTok FollowMeta Platforms Inc FollowDUBLIN, Sept 15 (Reuters) - TikTok has been fined 345 million euros ($370 million) for breaching privacy laws regarding the processing of children's personal data in the European Union, its lead regulator in the bloc said on Friday. The DPC gave TikTok three months to bring all its processing into compliance where infringements were found. It has a second probe open into the transferring by TikTok of personal data to China and whether it complies with EU data law when moving personal data to countries outside the bloc. The DPC has hit other tech giants with big fines, including a combined 2.5 billion euros levied on Meta (META.O).

Persons: Dado Ruvic, TikTok, Padraic Halpin, Jason Neely Organizations: REUTERS, European Union, Data Protection, Meta, Thomson Locations: Ireland, China

REUTERS/Michele Tantussi/File Photo Acquire Licensing RightsSTOCKHOLM, Aug 31 (Reuters) - Advocacy group Noyb on Thursday filed complaints against Google-owned Fitbit in Austria, the Netherlands and Italy accusing the fitness tracking company of violating the European Union's General Data Protection Regulation (GDPR) privacy regime. Vienna-based Noyb (None Of Your Business), the digital rights group founded by privacy activist Max Schrems, has already filed hundreds of complaints against big tech companies ranging from Alphabet Inc's (GOOGL.O) Google to Meta over privacy violations, some leading to big fines. Fitbit forces its users to consent to data transfers outside the EU and does not provide the possibility to withdraw their consent, violating GDPR's requirements, Noyb said. Fines for violating GDPR rules can reach up to 4% of a firm's global annual revenue. While GDPR allows every person to withdraw their consent, Fitbit's privacy policy states that the only way to withdraw consent is to delete an account, which means losing their previously tracked workouts and health data, Noyb said.

Persons: Michele Tantussi, Max Schrems, Noyb, Fitbit, doesn't, Bernardo Armentano, Supantha Mukherjee, Kirsten Donovan Organizations: IFA, REUTERS, Rights, Google, European, Data Protection, Thomson Locations: Berlin, Germany, Rights STOCKHOLM, Austria, Netherlands, Italy, Vienna, Stockholm

A smartphone with Meta logo is seen in front of displayed Facebook's new rebrand logo Meta in this illustration taken, October 28, 2021. REUTERS/Dado Ruvic/Illustration/File Photo Acquire Licensing RightsCompanies Meta Platforms Inc FollowOSLO, Aug 23 (Reuters) - Meta Platforms (META.O) is breaking European data privacy rules in Norway, the country's data regulator told a court on Wednesday, in a case that could have wider European implications. The fine is valid as Meta is not respecting European General Data Protection Regulation (GDPR), said Hanne Inger Bjurstroem Jahren, a lawyer representing the regulator, Datatilsynet. "There is no discussion on whether the company is in violation of these rules ... Today Meta breaks GDPR rules," she told the court, speaking on the last day of a two-day hearing. Datatilsynet could make the fine permanent by referring its decision to the European Data Protection Board, which has the power to do so, if it agrees with the Norwegian regulator's decision.

Persons: Dado Ruvic, Meta, Instagram, Hanne Inger Bjurstroem Jahren, Datatilsynet, Gwladys, Tomasz Janowski Organizations: REUTERS, Big Tech, Facebook, Data Protection, Meta, European Data Protection, European, Thomson Locations: Norway, Norwegian, Europe

☆ Finland and Norway ban Yandex from transferring data to Russia
▼ + stars: | 2023-08-08 | by ( ) www.reuters.com time to read: +3 min

The logo of Russian technology giant Yandex is on display at the company's headquarters in Moscow, Russia December 9, 2022. REUTERS/Evgenia Novozhenina/File PhotoHELSINKI, Aug 8 (Reuters) - Finnish and Norwegian regulators said on Tuesday they had banned Russian tech group Yandex (YNDX.O) and its Netherlands-based partner Ridetech International from transferring to Russia any personal data of customers of Yandex's Yango ride-hailing app. The Yango ride-hailing service, which operates in 14 countries including Finland and Norway, is one of many services offered by Yandex, often dubbed "Russia's Google". "There is an acute risk to privacy as Russian authorities could potentially monitor the movements of Norwegian citizens via Yango," the Norwegian Data Protection Authority said in a separate statement. It said it processes data in strict compliance with General Data Protection Regulation (GDPR) and EU legislation.

Persons: Evgenia, Yango, Arkadi Volozh, Anne Kauranen, Terje Solsvik, Alexander Marrow, Susan Fenton Organizations: REUTERS, Ridetech, Finnish DPA, Federal Security Service, Russian Federation, Yandex, Norwegian Data Protection Authority, General Data Protection, Nasdaq, EU General Data, Thomson Locations: Moscow, Russia, Russian, Netherlands, Finnish, Finland, Norway, Yango, Yandex's New York, Ukraine, Oslo, London

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