GDPR impact: Google, Facebook face over $9 bn in fines
San Francisco, May 26 : 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, a media report said.
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 blocked Europeans on Friday, the report said.
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Money laundering case: SC rejects bail plea of suspended Jharkhand cadre IAS officer
New Delhi (PTI): The Supreme Court on Monday dismissed a plea of suspended Jharkhand cadre IAS officer Puja Singhal seeking bail in a money laundering matter, observing it is an "extraordinary case".
A bench of Justices Sanjiv Khanna and Dipankar Datta refused to interfere with the Jharkhand High Court order denying her bail.
The top court noted that out of 17 prosecution witnesses, 12 have been examined by the Enforcement Directorate (ED) and hoped that the trial in the case is concluded expeditiously.
"You wait for some more time for bail. This is not a normal matter but an extraordinary case. There is something seriously wrong in this case. We are not inclined to entertain the instant petition. We hope the trial will be concluded expeditiously," it observed.
The bench, however, gave liberty to Singhal to revive her bail plea, if the trial is prolonged or is there any other change in circumstance.
Additional Solicitor General SV Raju, appearing for the ED, opposed the bail plea and said that out of the total custody period, she has spent most of the time in a hospital at Ranchi.
On February 10, 2023, the top court had granted Singhal interim bail for two months to enable her to take care of her ailing daughter.
Singhal has been in custody since May 11, 2022 after raids were conducted at properties linked to her in connection with the money laundering case.
The case relates to alleged corruption in the implementation of MGNREGA, the Centre's flagship scheme for rural employment.
The ED has accused Singhal, a former state mines department secretary, of money laundering and said its team seized more than Rs 36 crore cash linked to alleged illegal mining as part of two separate money laundering investigations.
Apart from the 2000 batch IAS officer, her businessman husband, a chartered accountant associated with the couple, and others were also raided by the ED as part of the money laundering probe.
Singhal was suspended following her arrest.
