I seem to be on a roll here with more articles about technology and data privacy than about education. And today continues that. Hopefully, I will have an article about SEL posted in the next few days.
Google Fined $57 Million for Burying Privacy Terms Where Users Won’t Find Them
Imagine corporations “interpreting the law differently” or claiming to be compliant when they aren’t. They would never do that… would they? Makes me wonder what kind of goggles Google is wearing. Good for the privacy regulators in France. Will things ever be addressed in the U.S.? Probably, but only after Google get legislation passed that it helps write in conjunction (or in collusion) with other tech industry companies.
Specifically, the company is accused of violating the General Data Protection Regulation (GDPR) by using, without proper consent, the private data of users to craft personalized ads; and by burying key privacy disclosures pages deep amid oceans of text.
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While Google says it obtains the consent of consumers prior to using their data to personalize ads, the French commission found Google’s process for informing users about what precisely they’re consenting to to be wholly inadequate. Users are “not sufficiently informed,” it said, finding Google’s language “vague” and its violations to be “continuous.”
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“We have found that large corporations such as Google simply ‘interpret the law differently’ and have often only superficially adapted their products,” Schrems reportedly told the station. “It is important that the authorities make it clear that simply claiming to be compliant is not enough.”
China Wants to Dominate the Internet
Will they need to get permission from Al Gore? Wonder how involved Google is in China’s efforts?
It also wants to gain control over global data and information exchanges, thereby claiming leverage to advance its interests.
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As the Academy of Sciences put it, China hopes to use this network first to conduct “social experimentation and analysis,” then to “predict, develop, and control real events.” Consider it a global operating system with geopolitical ambitions.
The Underground Parent 