The Times They Are A Changin – So Says GDPR

The EU’s high court – the Court of Justice of the European Union – said this week that web sites including search engines must ask users to opt in to sharing of their data.

Web sites such as Google know that if users have to actively do something for the sole purpose of allowing Google to sell their data, that some percentage will not do it.  That is why in the US, the best that you might get from a web site is the ability to uncheck a box, which again, most users will not do.

But in Europe you have to deal with GDPR.

This particular case started in Germany when a local web site pre-checked a box that allowed them to use cookies.

I am not sure what these folks were thinking, but I had no doubt that doing what they did would violate GDPR.  Likely these folks will face a  big fine.  Then they should uncheck the box.

I think this is a precursor to this happening in the US, starting with California’s privacy law AB375.  It is not clear what web sites will need to do about cookies because clearly a user can opt out of data sharing and depending on how cookies are used, that could be a problem.

I see a huge number of web sites that have a banner on the home page that says that they are using cookies and the only option that users have to click on is OK.   THIS IS VERY LIKELY A VIOLATION OF GDPR and may well be a violation of laws like CCPA (AB375).  GDPR specifically says that you cannot refuse service if users do not allow you to sell your data and CCPA says that you have to give equal service whether users opt out of data sharing or not.

While companies love collecting data, they love paying large fines somewhat less, so now is the time to understand what is allowed and what is not allowed. Source: Politico

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