Uber Applied sciences Inc. was hit by a file €290 million ($324 million) high quality by the Dutch privateness watchdog for failing to abide by European safety requirements when it shipped swathes of delicate information about its drivers to the US.
The Dutch Knowledge Safety Authority stated Uber was amassing data of drivers from Europe, similar to taxi licenses, location information, and in some instances felony and medical information, and retaining them on servers within the US.
The high quality is the very best penalty ever issued by the Dutch watchdog towards any firm, a spokesperson stated by e mail. It’s additionally the largest high quality Uber obtained globally.
The ride-hailing service despatched the delicate information to its US headquarters for over two years with out utilizing information switch instruments geared toward defending privateness, which meant the information have been “insufficiently protected,” the watchdog stated on Monday. Uber has ended the violation final yr, the company stated.
The high quality is “fully unjustified,” stated Caspar Nixon, a spokesperson for Uber, in response to emailed questions. Uber’s information switch course of was compliant with European legal guidelines and the corporate will enchantment towards the choice, Nixon stated.
Uber didn’t meet the necessities of European legal guidelines to “guarantee the extent of safety to the information with regard to transfers to the US. That may be very severe,” Aleid Wolfsen, the Dutch information safety authority’s chairman, stated in a press release.
The Dutch information safety authority started its investigation on Uber after greater than 170 French drivers complained to a French human rights curiosity group. The probe was dealt with by the Dutch company as Uber’s European headquarters is within the Netherlands.
That is the third penalty by the Dutch information safety authority on Uber. It was beforehand fined for not offering adequate transparency about how lengthy it retained information from European drivers and to which nations outdoors Europe this information was forwarded. In 2018, it was penalized for not informing the Dutch watchdog a few information breach in time.
The fines by European privateness watchdogs can quantity to a most of 4% of the worldwide annual income of a enterprise.
The Dutch Knowledge Safety Authority stated Uber was amassing data of drivers from Europe, similar to taxi licenses, location information, and in some instances felony and medical information, and retaining them on servers within the US.
The high quality is the very best penalty ever issued by the Dutch watchdog towards any firm, a spokesperson stated by e mail. It’s additionally the largest high quality Uber obtained globally.
The ride-hailing service despatched the delicate information to its US headquarters for over two years with out utilizing information switch instruments geared toward defending privateness, which meant the information have been “insufficiently protected,” the watchdog stated on Monday. Uber has ended the violation final yr, the company stated.
The high quality is “fully unjustified,” stated Caspar Nixon, a spokesperson for Uber, in response to emailed questions. Uber’s information switch course of was compliant with European legal guidelines and the corporate will enchantment towards the choice, Nixon stated.
Uber didn’t meet the necessities of European legal guidelines to “guarantee the extent of safety to the information with regard to transfers to the US. That may be very severe,” Aleid Wolfsen, the Dutch information safety authority’s chairman, stated in a press release.
The Dutch information safety authority started its investigation on Uber after greater than 170 French drivers complained to a French human rights curiosity group. The probe was dealt with by the Dutch company as Uber’s European headquarters is within the Netherlands.
That is the third penalty by the Dutch information safety authority on Uber. It was beforehand fined for not offering adequate transparency about how lengthy it retained information from European drivers and to which nations outdoors Europe this information was forwarded. In 2018, it was penalized for not informing the Dutch watchdog a few information breach in time.
The fines by European privateness watchdogs can quantity to a most of 4% of the worldwide annual income of a enterprise.
