A campaign group has asked EU regulators to investigate several data brokers, credit rating agencies, and adtech companies to see if they are breaching the General Data Protection Regulation (GDPR).
Privacy International filed several complaints to the British, Irish, and French data regulators on Thursday, November 8, against data broker Acxiom, software giant Oracle, credit rating agencies Experian and Equifax, and adtech companies Criteo, Quantcast, and Tapad. The group alleges that the companies, which buy and sell the data of millions of online consumers, cannot legally collect such information.
“Part of their business models are about fundamentally exploiting data and therefore clash with many of the provisions [of the EU’s General Data Protection Regulation],” said Ailidh Callander, legal officer at Privacy International, according to the Financial Times. “We put most of our attention on the bigger companies with which people have a direct relationship, like Facebook and Google, but then there are these other companies that most people have never heard of, and wouldn’t expect to have a huge amount of data about us.”
The UK’s Information Commissioner’s Office stated said it was “aware of concerns raised about the compliance of data protection laws by big tech companies, data brokers and credit referencing agencies.”
The GDPR allows European citizens to request their data from companies, as well as request for their data to be corrected and deleted under the “right to be forgotten” provision. Companies that fail to follow the new rules can face fines as high as €20 million (US$22.8 million), or 4% of their global annual revenue.
But a study found that three months in, GDPR compliance rates were low, showing that only 20% of firms are fully compliant. As a result, the number of complaints filed with the UK data protection watchdog has more than doubled since the GDPR went into effect at the end of May, while Ireland has also seen a boost in complaints.
Featured News
Judge Mehta Questions Both Sides in Landmark Google Antitrust Case
May 2, 2024 by
CPI
FCC Urges Urgent Funding for Removal of Chinese Telecom Equipment from U.S. Networks
May 2, 2024 by
CPI
Former Pioneer CEO Facing Potential Criminal Charges For Colluding With OPEC
May 2, 2024 by
CPI
South Korea’s Antitrust Regulator Greenlights K-Pop Powerhouse Deal
May 2, 2024 by
CPI
Exxon’s Pioneer Purchase Approved, Former CEO Barred from Board
May 2, 2024 by
CPI
Antitrust Mix by CPI
Antitrust Chronicle® – Economics of Criminal Antitrust
Apr 19, 2024 by
CPI
Navigating Economic Expert Work in Criminal Antitrust Litigation
Apr 19, 2024 by
CPI
The Increased Importance of Economics in Cartel Cases
Apr 19, 2024 by
CPI
A Law and Economics Analysis of the Antitrust Treatment of Physician Collective Price Agreements
Apr 19, 2024 by
CPI
Information Exchange In Criminal Antitrust Cases: How Economic Testimony Can Tip The Scales
Apr 19, 2024 by
CPI