San Francisco, May 26 (IANS) Within hours of the European Union’s (EU) General Data Protection Regulation (GDPR) taking effect on Friday, technology giants Google and Facebook have been hit with privacy complaints that could carry fines of up to $9.3 billion in total, media reported.

With regard to privacy, Google, Facebook and Facebook-owned WhatsApp and Instagram are forcing people to adopt a “take it or leave it” approach which essentially amounts to demanding that users submit to intrusive terms of service, according to the the Austrian privacy-advocacy group Noyb.eu, CNET reported on Friday.

“Tonnes of ‘consent boxes’ popped up online or in applications, often combined with a threat, that the service can no longer be used if user (s) do not consent,” the group was quoted as saying in a statement.

The group is asking regulators in France, Belgium, Germany and Austria to fine the companies up to the maximum four per cent of their annual revenue that the GDPR legislation allows.

This could potentially add up to a $4.88 billion fine for Google parent company Alphabet and $1.63 billion for each of Facebook, and its Instagram and WhatsApp services, if European regulators agree with Noyb.eu and decide to fine the companies the full amount, the CNET report said.

GDPR, designed to designed to give individuals in the European Union (EU) more rights to control their personal information, came into effect on Friday.

Seen as a measure to by European leaders to control the powers of technology companies, GDPR violations can cost companies either 20 million Euros or four per cent of annual turnover.

As a result of the regulation, several US news outlets were temporarily unavailable in Europe, reported BBC.

“The Chicago Tribune and LA Times were among those saying they were currently unavailable in most European countries,” the rpeort said.

News sites within the Tronc and Lee Enterprises media publishing groups were affected. The websites included the New York Daily News, Chicago Tribune, LA Times, Orlando Sentinel and Baltimore Sun.

CNN and the New York Times were among those not affected.

While the EU regulations give individuals greater control over how their data is being collected, processed and used, violations of the norms can cost companies a fortune — either 20 million Euros or four per cent of annual turnover. </s> Image caption Four web giants are accused of breaking the law

Complaints have been filed against Facebook, Google, Instagram and WhatsApp within hours of the new GDPR data protection law taking effect.

The companies are accused of forcing users to consent to targeted advertising to use the services.

Privacy group noyb.eu led by activist Max Schrems said people were not being given a "free choice".

If the complaints are upheld, the websites may be forced to change how they operate, and they could be fined.

What's the issue?

The General Data Protection Regulation (GDPR) is a new EU law that changes how personal data can be collected and used. Even companies based outside the EU must follow the new rules if offering their services in the EU.

In its four complaints, noyb.eu argues that the named companies are in breach of GDPR because they have adopted a "take it or leave it approach".

Media playback is unsupported on your device Media caption WATCH: What is GDPR?

The activist group says customers must agree to having their data collected, shared and used for targeted advertising, or delete their accounts.

This, the organisation suggests, falls foul of the new rules because forcing people to accept wide-ranging data collection in exchange for using a service is prohibited under GDPR.

"The GDPR explicitly allows any data processing that is strictly necessary for the service - but using the data additionally for advertisement or to sell it on needs the users' free opt-in consent," said noyb.eu in a statement.

"GDPR is very pragmatic on this point: whatever is really necessary for an app is legal without consent, the rest needs a free 'yes' or 'no' option."

Privacy advocate Max Schrems said: "Many users do not know yet that this annoying way of pushing people to consent is actually forbidden under GDPR in most cases."

Image copyright Reuters Image caption Lawyer Max Schrems is a privacy advocate

The complaints were filed by four EU citizens with local regulators in Austria, Belgium, France and Germany.

Analysts and regulators had expected complaints to be filed shortly after the introduction of the law, as organisations and privacy advocates argue over how the law should be interpreted.

'Huge fines'

Some companies based outside the EU have temporarily blocked their services across Europe to avoid falling foul of the new legislation.

However, others such as Twitter have introduced granular controls that let people opt out of targeted advertising.

Companies that fall foul of GDPR can be - in extreme cases - fined more than £17m.

Facebook said in a statement that it had spent 18 months preparing to make sure it met the requirements of GDPR.

Google told the BBC: "We build privacy and security into our products from the very earliest stages and are committed to complying with the EU General Data Protection Regulation."

WhatsApp has not yet responded to the BBC's request for comment. </s> In this March 29, 2018, file photo the logo for Facebook appears on screens at the Nasdaq MarketSite in New York's Times Square. Many companies large and small are updating their privacy policies and service terms to comply with upcoming European Union rules governing data and privacy. In preparation for GDPR, Facebook in March updated its privacy controls in hopes of making them easier to find and understand.

Since the European Union's General Data Protection Regulation (GDPR) went into effect on Friday, internet users in the bloc have had to deal with unforeseen consequences, including U.S. newspapers blocking access and some companies suspending support for their products.

The Los Angeles Times, Chicago Tribune and Orlando Sentinel — all newspapers owned by Tronc media company – displayed messages saying their websites are "currently unavailable in most European countries."

"We are engaged on the issue and committed to looking at options that support our full range of digital offerings to the EU market," said the Los Angeles Times on its website.

Instapaper, a bookmarking service owned by Pinterest, suspended its service to European clients as it makes "changes in light of GDPR." But that's not the only fallout.

Social media users have criticized companies for sending emails about their privacy policy updates, only to forget to hide the mailing list and effectively end up sharing scores of email addresses.

A Twitter user described it as "doomsday."

More: Are you getting all these GDPR privacy notices? We are too. Here's why they matter.

More: Don't ignore this alert from Facebook. It's your chance to quickly curb what it knows

Aside from the issues that have plagued GDPR's first day, rights groups have also signaled that companies could be held responsible for poor adherence and questionable practices.

Noyb, a digital rights group based in Austria, announced on Friday that it filed four complaints against Google's Android application, Facebook, WhatsApp and Instagram for "forced consent."

The group said that instead of making users feel free to make a decision on a service's privacy policy, "the opposite feeling spread on the screens" of users.

Apple's new privacy portal is for EU customers at the moment. It will be coming to the U.S. later.

"Tons of 'consent boxes' popped up online or in applications, often combined with a threat that the service cannot … be used if users do not consent."

Max Schrems, a lawyer and chairman of Noyb, said Facebook's actions reminded him of "North Korean election process."

"In the end, users only had the choice to delete the account or hit the 'agree' button – that's not a free choice," said Schrems.

This article originally appeared on DW.com. Its content was created separately to USA TODAY. </s> Since the European Union's General Data Protection Regulation (GDPR) went into effect on Friday, internet users in the bloc have had to deal with unforeseen consequences, including U.S. newspapers blocking access and some companies suspending support for their products.

The Los Angeles Times, Chicago Tribune and Orlando Sentinel — all newspapers owned by Tronc media company – displayed messages saying their websites are "currently unavailable in most European countries."

"We are engaged on the issue and committed to looking at options that support our full range of digital offerings to the EU market," said the Los Angeles Times on its website.

Instapaper, a bookmarking service owned by Pinterest, suspended its service to European clients as it makes "changes in light of GDPR." But that's not the only fallout.

Social media users have criticized companies for sending emails about their privacy policy updates, only to forget to hide the mailing list and effectively end up sharing scores of email addresses.

A Twitter user described it as "doomsday."

More: Are you getting all these GDPR privacy notices? We are too. Here's why they matter.

More: Don't ignore this alert from Facebook. It's your chance to quickly curb what it knows

Aside from the issues that have plagued GDPR's first day, rights groups have also signaled that companies could be held responsible for poor adherence and questionable practices.

Noyb, a digital rights group based in Austria, announced on Friday that it filed four complaints against Google's Android application, Facebook, WhatsApp and Instagram for "forced consent."

The group said that instead of making users feel free to make a decision on a service's privacy policy, "the opposite feeling spread on the screens" of users.

Apple's new privacy portal is for EU customers at the moment. It will be coming to the U.S. later.

"Tons of 'consent boxes' popped up online or in applications, often combined with a threat that the service cannot … be used if users do not consent."

Max Schrems, a lawyer and chairman of Noyb, said Facebook's actions reminded him of "North Korean election process."

"In the end, users only had the choice to delete the account or hit the 'agree' button – that's not a free choice," said Schrems.

This article originally appeared on DW.com. Its content was created separately to USA TODAY. </s> VIENNA/LONDON (Reuters) - As Europe’s new privacy law took effect on Friday, one activist wasted no time in asserting the additional rights it gives people over the data that companies want to collect about them.

Austrian Max Schrems filed complaints against Google, Facebook, Instagram and WhatsApp, arguing they were acting illegally by forcing users to accept intrusive terms of service or lose access.

That take-it-or-leave-it approach, Schrems told Reuters Television, violates people’s right under the General Data Protection Regulation (GDPR) to choose freely whether to allow companies to use their data.

“You have to have a ‘yes or no’ option,” Schrems said in an interview recorded in Vienna before he filed the complaints in various European jurisdictions.

“A lot of these companies now force you to consent to the new privacy policy, which is totally against the law.”

The GDPR overhauls data protection laws in the European Union that predate the rise of the internet and, most importantly, foresees fines of up to 4 percent of global revenues for companies that break the rules.

That puts potential sanctions in the ballpark of anti-trust fines levied by Brussels that, in Google’s case, have run into billions of dollars.

Andrea Jelinek, who heads both Austria’s Data Protection Authority and a new European Data Protection Board set up under GDPR, appeared to express sympathy with Schrems’ arguments at a news conference in Brussels.

Asked about the merits of Schrems’ complaints, Jelinek said: “If there is forced consent, there is no consent.”

SCOURGE OF FACEBOOK

Schrems was a 23-year-old law student when he first took on Facebook and he’s been fighting Mark Zuckerberg’s social network ever since - becoming the poster-boy for data privacy.

He won a landmark European court ruling in 2015 that invalidated a ‘safe harbour’ agreement allowing firms to transfer personal data from the EU to the United States, where data protection is less strict.

Austrian lawyer and privacy activist Max Schrems prepares his laptop during a Reuters interview in a cafe in Vienna, Austria, May 22, 2018. Picture taken May 22, 2018. REUTERS/Heinz-Peter Bader

With GDPR in mind, he recently set up a non-profit called None of Your Business https://noyb.eu (noyb) that plans legal action to blunt the ability of the tech titans to harvest data that they then use to sell targeted advertising.

His laptop perched on the table of a traditional Viennese coffee house, Schrems showed how a pop-up message on Facebook seeks consent to use his data - and how he is blocked when he refuses.

“The only way is to really accept it, otherwise you cannot use your Facebook any more,” Schrems explained.

“As you can see, I have my messages there and I cannot read them unless I agree.”

Erin Egan, Facebook’s chief privacy officer, said in a statement that the company has prepared for 18 months to ensure it meets the requirements of GDPR by making its policies clearer and its privacy settings easier to find.

Facebook, which has more than 2 billion regular users, has also said that advertising allows it to remain free, and that the whole service, including ads, is meant to be personalized based on user data.

“1,000-EURO BRICK”

Schrems said, however, that Instagram, a photo-sharing network popular with younger users, and encrypted messaging service WhatsApp - both owned by Facebook - also use pop-ups to gain consent and bar users who refuse.

The action brought by noyb against Google relates to new smartphones using its Android operating system. Buyers are required to hand over their data or else own “a 1,000-euro brick” that they can’t use, Schrems said.

Google did not immediately respond to a request for comment.

noyb is filing the four claims with data protection authorities in France, Belgium, Germany and Austria. Ensuing litigation may play out in Ireland, where both Facebook and Google have their European headquarters.

One filing, made against Facebook on behalf of an Austrian woman, asks the country’s data protection authority to investigate and, as appropriate, prohibit data processing operations based on invalid consent.

Slideshow (6 Images)

It also asks the regulator to impose “effective, proportionate and dissuasive” fines as foreseen by GDPR, which in Facebook’s case could run to 1.3 billion euros ($1.5 billion).

“So far it was cheaper just to ignore privacy rights,” said Schrems. “Now, hopefully, it’s going to be cheaper to follow them because the penalties are so high.” </s> SCHWEICH, Germany (CNN/APTN) – The German Minister of Justice and Consumer Protection said Thursday that new European Union data protection regulations coming into force in May would force internet giants such as Facebook to abide by state rules or pay a fine.

The European Union has already adopted a new basic data protection regulation which is intended to provide users with greater transparency regarding the data used.

Facebook and other tech giants like Google are bracing for tough new data privacy rules that take effect May 25th and will apply to any company that collects data on EU residents, no matter where it is based.

The rules will make it easier for consumers to give and withdraw consent for the use of their data.

Facebook could face a fine of almost $2 billion in the event of a violation.

Leave a Comment:

 Note: By commenting below you agree to abide by the KOBI5.com commenting guidelines. View the KOBI5.com Comment Board Guidelines » </s> BRUSSELS : The EU’s flagship new data protection laws came into effect on Friday but hit an early hitch as several major US news websites were blocked to European users.

The Los Angeles Times and Chicago Tribune newspapers were among those inaccessible on the other side of the Atlantic following the entry into force of the General Data Protection Regulation (GDPR).

Separately Facebook and Google already face their first legal cases under the new law after an Austrian privacy campaigner accused them of effectively forcing users to give their consent to the use of their personal information.

The EU has billed the GDPR as the biggest shake-up of data privacy regulations since the birth of the web, saying it sets new standards in the wake of the recent Facebook data harvesting scandal.

But it has also been blamed for a flood of emails and messages in recent weeks as worried firms rush to request the explicit consent of users.

It led to the hashtag #HappyGDPRDay taking off on social media as people sarcastically celebrated the end of the deluge of spam.

Even though the rules were officially adopted two years ago, with a grace period until now to adapt to them, companies have been slow to act, resulting in a last-minute scramble this week.

Companies can be fined up to 20 million euros ($24 million) or four percent of annual global turnover for breaching the strict new data rules for the EU, a market of 500 million people.

Several firms experienced real-world problems over complying with the EU laws, with US newspapers owned by the Tronc group, formerly known as Tribune Publishing, saying that they were blocked to Europeans for now.

“Unfortunately, our website is currently unavailable in most European countries,” said the message carried by the LA Times, Chicago Tribune, New York Daily News, Baltimore Sun and Orlando Sentinel. “We are engaged on the issue and committed to looking at options that support our full range of digital offerings to the EU market. We continue to identify technical compliance solutions that will provide all readers with our award-winning journalism.”

Local US newspapers owned by Lee Enterprises, including the St. Louis Post Dispatch and Arizona Daily Sun, were also out of reach, explicitly blaming the GDPR.

The European Commission insisted that it was not responsible for the blackout of some US sites, saying it was “proud to set high data protection standards” for the bloc’s 500 million citizens.

“We have seen the press reports, but it is not for the Commission to comment on individual companies’ policies in terms of offering services in the EU,” a spokesman said in an emailed comment to AFP.

“We expect all companies to fully comply with the General Data Protection Regulation as of today. With the new rules in place, EU data protection authorities will watch over their correct application across the EU and ensure full compliance.”

Meanwhile campaigner Max Schrems said he had launched four court cases on Friday under the new law.

They target Google in France, picture-sharing site Instagram in Belgium, WhatsApp in Germany and Facebook in his native Austria.

The problem with all these sites, he said, is with the pop ups that have been appearing on them in recent weeks, asking users to agree to new terms of use, adding that this amounts to a system of “forced consent” from users.

A previous case brought by Schrems against Facebook triggered the collapse of a previous EU-US data sharing agreement.

Brussels says the new laws put Europeans “back in control” of their data.

“When it comes to personal data today, people are naked in an aquarium,” said EU Justice Commissioner Vera Jourova.

The law says individuals must explicitly grant permission for their data to be used. It also establishes their “right to know” who is processing their information and what it will be used for; and gives them the “right to be forgotten”.

Parents will decide for children until they reach the age of consent, which member states will set anywhere between 13 and 16 years old.

The case for the new rules has been boosted by the recent scandal over the harvesting of Facebook users’ data by Cambridge Analytica, a US-British political research firm, for the 2016 US presidential election.

Facebook chief Mark Zuckerberg said as he apologised to the European Parliament on Tuesday over the scandal that his firm will be “fully compliant” with the EU law. </s> BERLIN -- Facebook Inc. won an appeal to a German antitrust edict regarding how it collects user data across its platforms, including Instagram and WhatsApp, an initial victory for the social-media giant as it faces wide regulatory scrutiny in Europe and the U.S.

The Higher Regional Court in Düsseldorf on Monday suspended an order of the German Federal Cartel Office to stop Facebook from combining data it collects about users across its platforms, as well on as third-party apps and websites. In a statement, the court said it had "serious doubts" about the legal basis for the cartel office's decision, issued earlier this year.

"Even if the contested data breached data-protection rules, that would not be an infringement of competition law at the same time," the court said.

In February, Germany's cartel office issued a landmark decision against Facebook, arguing that the social network abused its dominant position in the market by collecting data about its users. The antitrust authority said at the time it planned to use its decision as a basis for further crackdowns against other internet companies.

Federal Cartel Office President Andreas Mundt said Monday it planned to appeal the Düsseldorf ruling to the Federal Court of Justice, saying his office disagreed with the court's findings on the legality of competition law.

"Data and data handling are decisive factors for competition in the digital economy," Mr. Mundt said in a statement. "These legal issues are highly significant for the future state of competition in the digital economy. We are convinced that we can act in this area based on the existing antitrust law."

Facebook declined to comment on the ruling Monday. The Palo Alto, Calif.-based company is facing increased regulatory pressure at home and abroad for its privacy and data-collection practices. The Irish Data Protection Commission said earlier this month it was close to concluding an investigation into Facebook's compliance with the European Union's new privacy law, known as the General Data Protection Regulation. In July, the U.S. Federal Trade Commission reached a $5 billion settlement with Facebook to conclude a long-running probe into how it handles privacy concerns. </s> The EU's flagship new data protection laws came into effect on Friday but hit an early hitch as several major US news websites were blocked to European users.

The Los Angeles Times and Chicago Tribune newspapers were among those inaccessible on the other side of the Atlantic following the introduction of the General Data Protection Regulation (GDPR).

Separately Facebook and Google already face their first official complaints under the new law after an Austrian privacy campaigner accused them of effectively forcing users to give their consent to the use of their personal information.

The EU has billed the GDPR as the biggest shake-up of data privacy regulations since the birth of the web, saying it sets new standards in the wake of the recent Facebook data harvesting scandal.

But it has also been blamed for a flood of emails and messages in recent weeks as worried firms rush to request the explicit consent of users.

It led to the hashtag #HappyGDPRDay taking off on social media as people sarcastically celebrated the end of the deluge of spam.

Even though the rules were officially adopted two years ago, with a grace period until now to adapt to them, companies have been slow to act, resulting in a last-minute scramble this week.

Companies can be fined up to EUR 20 million ($24 million, or approximately Rs. 162 crores) or four percent of annual global turnover for breaching the strict new data rules for the EU, a market of 500 million people.

Several firms experienced real-world problems over complying with the EU laws, with US newspapers owned by the Tronc group, formerly known as Tribune Publishing, saying that they were blocked to Europeans for now.

"Unfortunately, our website is currently unavailable in most European countries," said the message carried by the LA Times, Chicago Tribune, New York Daily News, Baltimore Sun and Orlando Sentinel.

"We are engaged on the issue and committed to looking at options that support our full range of digital offerings to the EU market. We continue to identify technical compliance solutions that will provide all readers with our award-winning journalism."

Local US newspapers owned by Lee Enterprises, including the St. Louis Post Dispatch and Arizona Daily Sun, were also out of reach, explicitly blaming the GDPR.

The European Commission insisted that it was not responsible for the blackout of some US sites, saying it was "proud to set high data protection standards" for the bloc's 500 million citizens.

"We have seen the press reports, but it is not for the commission to comment on individual companies' policies in terms of offering services in the EU," a spokesman said in an emailed comment to AFP.

"We expect all companies to fully comply with the General Data Protection Regulation as of today. With the new rules in place, EU data protection authorities will watch over their correct application across the EU and ensure full compliance."

Meanwhile campaigner Max Schrems said he had launched four official complaints with national regulatory authorities on Friday under the new law.

They target Google in France, picture-sharing site Instagram in Belgium, WhatsApp in Germany and Facebook in his native Austria.

He said the problem with all these sites was pop ups that have appeared in recent weeks, asking users to agree to new terms of use, adding that this amounted to a system of "forced consent" from users.

A previous case brought by Schrems against Facebook triggered the collapse of a previous EU-US data sharing agreement.

Brussels says the new laws put Europeans "back in control" of their data.

"When it comes to personal data today, people are naked in an aquarium," said EU Justice Commissioner Vera Jourova.

French President Emmanuel Macron said on Twitter that "with the GDPR we are building a European sovereignty on data".

The law says individuals must explicitly grant permission for their data to be used. It also establishes their "right to know" who is processing their information and what it will be used for; and gives them the "right to be forgotten".

Parents will decide for children until they reach the age of consent, which member states will set anywhere between 13 and 16 years old.

The case for the new rules has been boosted by the recent scandal over the harvesting of Facebook users' data by Cambridge Analytica, a US-British political research firm, for the 2016 US presidential election.

Facebook chief Mark Zuckerberg said as he apologised to the European Parliament on Tuesday over the scandal that his firm would be "fully compliant" with the EU law. </s> The European Union’s digital privacy law, known as the General Data Protection Regulation (GDPR), officially went into effect today. But some websites in the U.S. have decided to block their services entirely rather than adhere to the new regulations. Dozens of American newspapers are currently blocked in Europe and web services like Instapaper have suspended operations in the European Union for the foreseeable future.

First reported by the BBC, news sites owned by media companies like Tronc and Lee Enterprises are now totally dark in European Union countries. Some of those sites include the Los Angeles Times, the New York Daily News, the St. Louis Dispatch, the Chicago Tribune, and the Orlando Sentinel. Gizmodo was able to confirm that the websites were being blocked in Europe by using a VPN service that routed internet traffic through various European countries.

Internet users who visit sites like the L.A. Times receive a notification like the one below, explaining:

Attempting to reach a site like the Arizona Daily Sun from Europe gives you this notice:

The reaction to the blocks in Europe has been mixed, with some people blaming the European Union for enacting a law that they see as too burdensome on companies, while others wondered what these newspapers were doing with everyone’s data that would put them in violation of the GDPR in the first place.

Instapaper, a service that allows you to store newspaper articles in its app, announced earlier this week that it would be ceasing operations in Europe but said that it would “restore access as soon as possible.”

The GDPR was legislation passed in April of 2016 to ensure that internet users had more control over how their information was being used. Companies face enormous fines if they’re not in compliance with the data protection rules that have been laid out, which include providing more information to consumers on how data is being collected on them, and forcing companies to delete old data that’s no longer being used. At its most drastic, the EU’s Information Commissioner’s Office (ICO) has the power to fine large companies up to 4 percent of the company’s global annual turnover after the second offense. For large companies like Google and Amazon that’s in the billions of dollars. Under the new rules, lengthy user license agreements also must be in plain language and easy to understand.

And it’s not just tech companies that must comply with the law. Every organization that handles data on EU citizens, including banks, airlines, and insurance companies, must be in compliance. Today was the deadline for all companies to be in compliance with GDPR, but surveys show that anywhere from 60 to 85 percent of companies say that they’re not ready to be compliant today. It’s unclear how EU regulators will react, but so far they’ve showed no signs of being lenient. The companies did have over two years since the law’s passage to get their acts together.

Mark Zuckerberg, currently embroiled in scandal over Facebook’s mishandling of private user information, told members of European Parliament on Tuesday that his company would be ready to comply with the GDPR by today. But we really won’t know until these companies face some kind of audit. Best of luck with that, EU. Judging from Zuck’s performance earlier this week, Facebook doesn’t care too much about transparency.

Update, 7:55am: NPR appears to be giving Europeans a choice of either still being tracked with cookies and other tracking technologies, or just viewing NPR online in plain text.

Here’s what it looks like when you visit NPR.org from the UK:

And here’s what the website looks like if you opt out:
Austrian privacy organization NOYB files complaints to regulators in four EU countries alleging that Facebook, Google, Instagram, and WhatsApp are violating the GDPR.