It’s about time UK ICO takes action 

EMBARGO: Immediate

Responding to news of the Belgian privacy watchdog finding AdTech lobby IAB Europe’s ‘Transparency & Consent framework” in violation of GDPR, Mariano delli Santi, Legal and Policy Officer at Open Rights Group said: 

“The verdict of the Belgian Data Protection Regulator is damning. In acting as a gateway with their infamous cookie banners, the IAB Transparency and Consent Framework failed to ensure transparency, security, and turned our No into Yes by abusing the legal ground of “legitimate interest”. The IAB will have a lot of work to do to scrap and redesign their adtech system from scratch, and bring it into compliance with the law.

“The UK ICO must now act to ban trickster ‘cookie consent’ banners that claim people’s data unlawfully. We have waited over two and a half years for action on these practices.

“The UK government, meanwhile, wants to permit all kinds of online tracking, rather than cracking down on this dangerous rogue practice, in the name of business freedom.

“The government’s plans will undermine the online economy by eroding trust. The ICO needs to enforce the rules immediately to show the rules we have matter and are there to defend us from abusive business practices.”

ENDS 

Contact 

Press 07951265812 / press@openrightsgroup.org  

Notes to the Editor:

The press statement of the Belgian Data Protection Authority is available from https://www.dataprotectionauthority.be/citizen/iab-europe-held-responsible-for-a-mechanism-that-infringes-the-gdpr

The full decision of the Belgian Data Protection Authority is available from https://www.autoriteprotectiondonnees.be/publications/decision-quant-au-fond-n-21-2022-english.pdf

The ICO’s 2019 and other reports are available from https://ico.org.uk/about-the-ico/what-we-do/our-work-on-adtech/