Apple (AAPL.O) should be fined 6 million euros ($6.3 million) for violating privacy rules, according to the chief advisor to the French data protection authority’s penalty board on Monday.
The sanction body of CNIL is capable of disregarding the rapporteur’s suggestions, but they typically carry a lot of weight in the watchdog’s final decision.
Francois Pellegrini, the rapporteur, made his recommendation following an examination by the authority, which was prompted by a complaint lodged last year by lobby group France Digitale.
In the complaint, the lobby, which represents the bulk of France’s digital entrepreneurs and venture capitalists, alleged that iPhone maker Apple’s former operating software, iOS 14, did not comply with EU privacy requirements.
While iPhone owners were asked in iOS 14 whether they were willing to allow installed mobile apps to gather a key identifier used to define campaign ads and send targeted ads, France Digitale argued that default settings allowed Apple to carry out its own targeted ad campaigns without explicitly asking iPhone users for their prior consent.
Apple’s privacy updates, called App Tracking Transparency, give users the option to block apps from tracking activity across apps and websites owned by other companies.
In his remarks, Pellegrini said Apple’s previous operating system version iOS 14.6 failed to ask users properly for their prior consent, thus constituting a breach of privacy rules under the European Union’s ePrivacy directive.
He added that changes made under a subsequent version of Apple’s operating system, iOS 15, allowed for such prior consent.
($1 = 0.9464 euros)
Reuters
