Apple and Google: 11 million for allegedly violating data regulations
As confirmed by the AGCM, the Italian acronym for Market Competition Authority, both Apple and Google will have to pay a penalty of 11 million euros because, according to their investigations, both companies acted unfairly with regard to the regulations of Data Protection and using these with commercial purposes.
It derives everything from the commercial communications carried out by both companies. And it is that + the Italian authority affirms that neither of the two companies exposes the user exactly how they will treat their data for commercial purposes, without giving them the possibility of rejecting that policy.
As indicated by MacRumors, when a user enters the App Store for the first time, Apple simply states that their data will be used for the purpose of improving the service and personalizing their experience, without saying exactly that they will be treated for commercial purposes. This is what has caught the attention of the Italian body, although they did not present any conclusive evidence that the company then actually uses such data for advertising purposes.
Apple is confirmed to appeal this decision
Precisely thanks to MacRumors it has been learned that from Cupertino they feel totally against the decision taken by the Italian AGCM. They literally maintain that the point of view of this body is “wrong”, stating that at no time do they use this data collected for commercial purposes, unless the users have expressly indicated so. They also confirm that they comply with the regulations of exposing these policies clearly in their Data and Privacy section.
Taking into account the relevance of this section of privacy for Apple, it was evident that they would try to appeal a sanction like this. We remember that every year the company provides new tools to its users so that they not only have knowledge about the processing of their data by Apple itself and third parties, but also try to give them full decision-making power in this regard. .
We will continue to see how the case is resolved, while it is also expected that in a few weeks software versions such as iOS 15.2 will be released. And it is that in this version new tools related precisely to this matter will be launched, allowing access to the so-called “Privacy Report” in which the number of times that each application has accessed data such as the location, microphone or camera of the device will be observed. .