Privacy Wars Fueled by the GDPR

Author: Will Horvath

Publisher: Data Science Ethics

Publication Year: 2019

Summary: The following article discusses how with countries fighting against the growing threat of privacy invasion (and many losing), Europe implemented in 2018 the General Data Protection Regulation (GDPR) that provides the ‘most sweeping protection of user privacy rights yet passed in the world.’ France’s CNIL used the GDPR to fine Google for $57 million for “a lack of transparency, inadequate information and lack of valid consent regarding the ads personalization.” The CNIL stated that Google violated the GDPR for setting ad personalization as the user’s default option. Although the GDPR is only influential within the European Union, this regulation will set an example for other countries trying to combat predatory data collection.