Covid testing site for MEPs investigated for privacy complaints

João Barros 22 January 2021, 15:45

According to European laws, companies cannot collect information and data from European users without explicit authorization, something that did not happen in this case. The data in question was passed on to American companies like Google and Stripe.

The European Parliament's website dedicated to testing MEPs is being investigated by the European Union (EU) online privacy regulator, after a complaint by an activist group that the page could be providing information illegally to US companies. American companies, reports Reuters.

The European Data Protection Supervisor (EDPS) is investigating the situation, which was reported by NOYB, a non-governmental organization dedicated to protecting the privacy of European citizens in cyberspace, following complaints from European lawmakers.

These, when accessing the page, found that there were about 150 requests from third party sites, including from the US companies Google and Stripe. Such action constitutes a violation of Community laws, after a 2019 decision by the EU Court of Justice determined that explicit consent is required for the collection of this type of data.

The organization responsible for the complaint is led by Max Schrems, an Austrian activist who managed to defeat Facebook in court in two separate cases that forced the world's largest social network to change the way it collects data on the European market.

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