The Irish Data Protection Commission (DPC) has fined the American technology company Google, part of the Alphabet group, €403 million (CZK 9.8 billion) for unlawfully handling users’ location data. The commission launched its investigation in February 2020.
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Regulator says Google violated GDPR rules
Google has its European headquarters in Ireland, making the DPC the key regulator for this multinational giant across the entire EU. According to the commission, the company violated the European General Data Protection Regulation (GDPR). Under these rules, information of this type must be processed in a lawful, fair, and transparent manner, noted the website of Irish public broadcaster RTÉ.
The DPC stated that its investigation found people may not have been aware that their location was being used, for example, to influence them through advertising or to infer their interests, and could thus lose control over their personal data. “The retention of users’ location data for longer than necessary further exacerbated this loss of control,” DPC Deputy Commissioner Graham Doyle said, according to RTÉ.
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Location data can reveal sensitive information
“Location data is a type of personal data that is processed through location tracking, and includes data collected or processed by Google from which the location of a specific individual can be inferred, either on its own or in combination with other information,” Doyle added.
According to RTÉ, location data can benefit people but can also harm them at the same time. “It can significantly increase the usefulness of online services, but it can also reveal a considerable amount of information about an individual, including information that is inherently private,” the DPC added.
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Source: ČTK
