DSGVO: European consumer advocates want to fight data hunger in Google

Consumer advocates from seven European countries want to take action against the possible misuse of data from the internet giant Google. The badociations from Norway, the Netherlands, Greece, the Czech Republic, Slovenia, Poland and Sweden wanted to file a complaint with their respective data protection authorities, the European Association for the Protection of Human Rights said on Tuesday. consumers (Beuc). The German vzbv considers, according to dpa, an injunction.

Consumer advocates contend that the US company is violating the European General Data Protection Regulation (DSGVO) by tracking user locations. "Places can reveal a lot of information about people, religious beliefs, political beliefs, health status and badual orientation," the group said in a statement.

Google tips

The Android operating system of Google is present on about two billion smartphones in the world. The company used a variety of tricks to ensure that users turned on location tracking or did not turn it off. The collected data would then be used for a variety of purposes, including targeted advertising.

However, Google has no sufficient legal reason to use this data and therefore violates EU law, said consumer advocates. Consent of users to collect and process data is also not given voluntarily in these circumstances.

Google argues against

"Google's thirst for data is obvious, but the fact that its users are misled to follow and make money with each move is breathtaking," said Monique Goyens, Beuc's Executive Director.

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A spokesman for Google responded to the complaint of consumer advocates. According to Reuters, the location location is disabled by default, the user can turn them on and off at any time. If enabled, it will help forecast Google traffic in commuters. If this option is disabled, tell Google to continue to collect location data to improve its use. Google will file a complaint with consumers and see what can be improved.

(ANW)