France fined 60 million euros Microsoft for forcing their users to be watched for advertising purposes. The French regulator announced this Thursday that the computer giant Bill Gates co-founded has not implemented a system that allows users of the Bing search engine to refuse cookies.
The National Commission on Information Technology and Freedoms (CNIL) has condemned the fact that when visiting the Microsoft search engine, advertising ‘cookies’ began to be downloaded without the user’s consent. They were presented with a button to accept watching ads, but not to allow them to decline in the same simple way, a formula found on many pages.
The French regulator determined the 60m-euro fine on the basis of the large number of people affected by this practice, which is against European Union (EU) law, and the high benefits Microsoft derives from them. In its last fiscal year, which ended in June, the company made more than $72.7 billion in profits, the highest profit in its history.
What are “cookies”?
A ‘cookie’ or ‘cracker‘ is the popular name of the data file. Internet page sends it to your computer every time you connect. This allows, for example, to save your passwords so that you don’t have to log in each time you access that website, but it also serves to remember your history or settings.
But in addition to recognizing access codes, ‘cookies’ are also used to track and record the user’s habits, digital footprints. Collection of such data by third parties is necessary so that advertisers can email you. advertising when you enter that site
General Data Protection Regulation (GDPR) determines that websites are obligated to notify users and ask them if they accept these ‘cookies’, something Microsoft does not do. Therefore, in addition to economic sanctions, the regulator obliges the company to rectify this situation and enable a system that allows its users to refuse tracking of their online activities. Microsoft will have three months to include this, otherwise it could be fined 60,000 euros per day.