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AP Photo/Mark Lennihan
Data
Spain watchdog fines Google €900,000 for privacy 'violations'
The company has been accused of “illegal processing of personal data” obtained from users of its many services.
11.07am, 20 Dec 2013
5.9k
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Spain’s data protection watchdog ordered US Internet giant Google on Thursday to pay a €900,000 fine for “serious violations” of users’ privacy.
The Spanish Data Protection Agency accused the popular search provider of “illegal processing of personal data” obtained from users of various services such as Google email accounts.
“Google unlawfully collects and processes personal information” of users, the agency said in a statement.
“The agency considers that Google seriously violates the right to the protection of personal data.”
It ordered Google to pay €300,000 for each of three counts of breaching Spain’s data protection law and ordered it to bring its privacy policy in line with legal norms.
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It said Google’s privacy policy did not clearly inform users of how it uses data collected, for example information from emails that is gathered to generate targeted advertising.
It also accused Google of keeping the data for longer than is legally justified and of making it difficult for users to query the use of their data.
Google has repeatedly stated that its privacy policy respects European law, despite investigations in several countries.
The Spanish authority launched proceedings against Google in June. In September, France too said it would take action against the company, accusing it of breaching privacy norms.
Authorities in Germany, Italy, The Netherlands and Britain have also opened parallel procedures against Google.
Like other technology giants, Google has come under scrutiny following revelations by US whistleblower Edward Snowden of online eavesdropping by US and other intelligence agencies.
General Charles Pinckney recounts the devastating collapse of the US first fiat currency ‘The Continental’:
“With regard to Mr. Lowndes’s question ‘What harm had paper money done?’ General Pinckney answered, that he wondered that gentleman should ask such a question, as he had told the house that he had lost fifteen thousand guineas by depreciation; but he would tell the gentleman what further injuries it had done – it had corrupted the morals of the people; it had diverted them from the paths of honest industry to the ways of ruinous speculation; it had destroyed both public and private credit, and had brought total ruin on numberless widows and orphans.”
Different scenario IMF not involved at present.austerity measures are having a. Big effect in Spain especially on Youth Unemployment 50% and. More in some places. Unemployment needs to be tackled across the whole EU and The UKIP group have always been negative towards ANY solution . Farage is a fine speaker but so was Hitlernn
It really is long passed the time to see “The Markets”, “The IMF”, “The European Central Bank”, “The ratings Agencies” and the rest of the leeching commercial banks for what they really are. These slumdogs are really the heart of the problem. If you take all of these out of the equation, the problems disappear. They are of no real use to anyone accept themselves. They make nothing and contribute nothing at all to society or to human kind. They exist to fuel their own greed and create wealth out of nothing. They serve no use and have no industrial endeavour that forwards mankind in any way what so ever.They are indeed a horrible boil on the arse of humanity as are the people who work in them…… We either deal with boil and lance it or we continue down this horrible route which does nothing for Europe, Its citizens, Its history, Its future or its lofty ideals….. Can we just come together as a European society and deal with this parasitic cesspit of undesirables once and for all…… There you go rant over.
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