France has handed Google a €50 million fine for breaking EU privacy laws
Google has been fined €50 million ($57 million) by French authorities for breaking the European Union’s General Data Protection Regulation.
The news: France’s National Data Protection Commission (CNIL) concluded that Google is flouting the European Union’s privacy law in two ways. First, by failing to explain its data collection policies properly, and second, by failing to get users’ consent for data processing and ad personalization across its services, including its search engine, Google Maps, and YouTube.
Record-breaker: The fine is the biggest so far under GDPR, which came into force in May 2018. It was handed out in response to two complaints filed on the day the law went into effect, by NOYB, a watchdog launched by Austrian privacy activist Max Schrems, and French digital rights group La Quadrature du Net.
In other EU news … A final vote on its controversial Copyright Directive has been called off after 11 countries withdrew support for it. It’s been delayed until March.
Keep Reading
Most Popular
Large language models can do jaw-dropping things. But nobody knows exactly why.
And that's a problem. Figuring it out is one of the biggest scientific puzzles of our time and a crucial step towards controlling more powerful future models.
The problem with plug-in hybrids? Their drivers.
Plug-in hybrids are often sold as a transition to EVs, but new data from Europe shows we’re still underestimating the emissions they produce.
Google DeepMind’s new generative model makes Super Mario–like games from scratch
Genie learns how to control games by watching hours and hours of video. It could help train next-gen robots too.
How scientists traced a mysterious covid case back to six toilets
When wastewater surveillance turns into a hunt for a single infected individual, the ethics get tricky.
Stay connected
Get the latest updates from
MIT Technology Review
Discover special offers, top stories, upcoming events, and more.