LinkedIn fined $335 million in EU for tracking ads privacy breaches | TechCrunch
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Bad news for LinkedIn in Europe, where the Microsoft-owned social network has been reprimanded and fined €310 million for privacy violations related to

The administrative penalties, which are worth around $335 million at current exchange rates, have been issued by Ireland’s Data Protection Commission (DPC) under the European Union’s General Data Protection Regulation (GDPR). The regulator found a raft of breaches, including beaches to the lawfulness, fairness and transparency of its data processing in this area.

The GDPR requires that uses of people’s information have a proper legal basis. In this case, the justifications LinkedIn had relied upon to run its tracking ads business were found to be invalid. It also did not properly inform users about its uses of their information, per the DPC’s decision.

LinkedIn had sought to claim (variously) “consent”-, “legitimate interests”- and “contractual necessity”-based legal bases for processing people’s information — when obtained directly and/or from third parties — to track and profile its users for behavioral advertising. However, the DPC found none were valid. LinkedIn also failed to comply with the GDPR principles of transparency and fairness.

  • slowcakes@programming.devEnglish
    1·
    4 days ago

    I always wonder, how you can be fined hundreds of millions of dollars for breaking a law or multiple, but no one will go to prison. How is it not a serious crime to break peoples right to privacy and personal integrity on a massive scale like that.

    If no one is jailed for doing it, it will never stopped they will just try to lobby to change the laws. They knowingly are breaking the law, but it’s only fines so they don’t give a shit, because they are also lobbying to change those laws…

    What a bunch of idiots for politicians, they let these corporation walk all over our rights.

    • NaibofTabr@infosec.pubEnglish
      1·
      4 days ago

      I always feel like the solution is to make this sort of thing unprofitable. Rather than just having a cost-of-doing-business fine, the company should have to forfeit all revenue generated by the illegal activity. The fine should then be assessed in addition to the revenue forfeiture, making it a real penalty rather than a wrist-slap.

      Businesses operate on cost-benefit analyses and risk assessments. If violating the privacy regulation risks the loss of all revenue for the ad business, they won’t do it.

  • COASTER1921@lemmy.mlEnglish
    0·
    4 days ago

    LinkedIn has some of the most obfuscated and complex ad targeting settings I’ve encountered. There needs to be a retirement to have a one click solution to disable ad personalization.