noyb – European Center for Digital Rights

ALT Privacy win: French electronics retailer Fnac Darty fined €7 million

ALT Today, the French data protection authority (CNIL) has fined Fnac Darty (one of the largest electronics retailers in France) €7 million for illegally using third-party trackers on its mobile app without consent. The fine is the result of a noyb complaint filed in 2023. In case of non-compliance with the decision, Fnac Darty faces a daily penalty of €10,000. The companies’ apps illegally accessed and shared users’ personal data with third parties for sophisticated analytics as soon as the apps were opened. In addition to France, Fnac Darty is also active in countries such as Spain, Italy, Portugal, Belgium, and Switzerland.

ALT “The CNIL made once again very clear that processing people's data for personalised advertising requires consent. While this kind of tracking remains a widespread practice, we hope that this decision sets the tone for cases of illegal tracking.” Lisa Steinfeld Leiser data protection lawyer, noyb

ALT AI training platform Outlier illegally surveils European platform workers

ALT Today, noyb (in collaboration with Intérêt à Agir, DIPLab and Reversing.Works) has filed 5 complaints against Scale AI in France, Italy, the Netherlands and Austria. The US-based company operates an AI training platform named Outlier, which employs more than 900,000 “freelance” workers.

ALT Among its customers: Meta, OpenAI, Google – and the US government. However, it's not just the workers' extensive knowledge and experience that Scale AI is farming: The company collects huge amounts of personal data and forces workers to go through an invasive biometric verification to earn money. In Europe, this far-reaching workplace surveillance clearly violates the workers’ fundamental right to data protection. For more information, visit: noyb.eu

ALT noyb win: German DPA finds microtargeting by major political parties illegal

ALT Over three years ago, noyb filed complaints against several German political parties for unlawfully using political microtargeting during the 2021 federal election. Now, the Berlin DPA (Data Protection Authority) has finally issued decisions concerning the Social Democrats (SPD), the Greens, the Left (Die LINKE), and the CDU. The conclusion: all of them unlawfully used microtargeting. The complaint against the AfD is still pending, because the party tried to fight the DPA’s investigative powers in court. For more information, visit: noyb.eu