Privacy must not be diluted at the altar of competition

Home >Opinion >Columns >Privacy must not be diluted at the altar of competition Data protection regulators contend that since it is they who are responsible for the personal privacy of users, it should be they who have the last word on matters relating to personal data 4 min read . Updated: 30 Mar 2021, 09:28 PM ISTRahul Matthan We need clarity on regulatory jurisdiction before goals of market fair play clash with those of user privacy The decision of the German Federal Cartel Office in 2019 that Facebook’s data collection practices were an exploitative abuse of market power was based on its finding that the data-gathering processes in question were illegal under Europe‘s General Data Protection Regulation, or GDPR. Last week, the Higher Regional Court in Düsseldorf set aside this order, stating that questions of whether or not there had been a violation of the GDPR must be decided by the European Court of Justice, and not the German competition authority. This is the latest example of the tension between competition and privacy regulators on questions of how data businesses should be governed, and by whom. Data protection regulators contend that since it is they who are responsible for the…
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