Amazon has been slapped with a huge €746 million fine on charges of misusing customer info for advertising purposes. The fine amount, which roughly translates to about $888 million is also the highest ever to be levied for violation of Europe’s strict data protection laws.
Specifically, it is the National Commission for Data Protection or CNPD in Luxembourg that imposed the record-breaking fine on Amazon. The ruling has been on the basis of a complaint made by a France-based privacy rights group, La Quadrature du Net. The group claims to have the backing of thousands of European citizens who are keen to see the big tech companies from misusing customer info for furthering their political or commercial interests.
The case against Amazon has been supported by more than 10,000 customers who allege that Amazon resorts to unscrupulous means with user info to manipulate the sort of things they should view or the type of information that the users have access to. In this respect, La Quadrature du Net said they welcome the ruling even though it comes after three years the complaint was first made.
Amazon, on its part, strongly denied the allegation and protested the ruling, claiming it to be entirely baseless. The company also made it clear they wish to challenge the above ruling sometime soon. Amazon also stated they accord the highest levels of security to uphold user privacy and that there has been no data breach of any sort. That is not all as Amazon also claimed no user info has been leaked to any third-party sources, for advertising purposes or whatever.
With a keen interest in tech, I make it a point to keep myself updated on the latest developments in technology and gadgets. That includes smartphones or tablet devices but stretches to even AI and self-driven automobiles, the latter being my latest fad. Besides writing, I like watching videos, reading, listening to music, or experimenting with different recipes. The motion picture is another aspect that interests me a lot, and I'll likely make a film sometime in the future.