The Spanish data protection regulator fined €1.2M (~$1.4M) against Social Media giant Facebook for privacy violation i.e collected personal data on its Spanish users without informing them of how it was to be used.
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Spain Slaps Facebook
Spain’s AEPD said,”an investigation into how Facebook collects, stores and uses data for advertising purposes found it is doing so without obtaining adequate user consent”.It says it identified two serious infringements and one very serious infringement of data protection law — with the total sanction breaking down to €300,000 for each of the first breaches and €600,000 for the second.
The regulator found that Facebook is collecting data on ideology, sex, religious beliefs, personal tastes, and navigation either directly from the user or from third party pages without, in its judgment, “clearly informing the user about the use and purpose”.
Facebook’s use of web browsing cookies was also found in violation of privacy laws, with the regulator saying it confirmed users are not informed that their information will be processed through the use of cookies when they are browsing non-Facebook pages that contain Facebook’s ‘Like’ button social plug in noting that while some of the use of this data is declared as being for advertising, another use is “secret”, i.e. not disclosed by the company.
