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