back to article Google faces another GDPR probe – this time in the land of meatballs and flat-pack furniture

Google's slurping of people's location data and web browsing histories is being probed by Swedish privacy watchdog. The Swedish Data Protection Authority (Datainspektionen) announced the investigation earlier this week, just as the search engine giant was handed a €50m penalty from the French data watchdog. The probe is the …

  1. NoneSuch Silver badge
    Devil

    Go Get Em GDPR...

    Sick em boy. Sick em....!

    1. Fruit and Nutcase Silver badge
      Joke

      Re: Go Get Em GDPR...

      At Waterloo Napoleon did surrender

      Waterloo is just outside Brussels, the de facto capital of the EU. May we one day see...

      At Brussels Google did surrender ???

      1. Potemkine! Silver badge

        Re: Go Get Em GDPR...

        At Waterloo Napoleon did surrender

        Nope, he didn't. Napoleon second abdication was on June, 22 1815, 4 days after the battle of Waterloo.

        1. Mark #255
          Coat

          Re: Go Get Em GDPR...

          What? Are you suggesting that those well known historians Andersson, Ulvaeus, Fältskog, and Lyngstad were peddling fake news back in 1974?

  2. Snowy Silver badge
    Mushroom

    Why not also look at.

    While they are at it they may also what to look at the tying of Bluetooth to location services too.

    1. Doctor Syntax Silver badge

      Re: Why not also look at.

      One at a time. Combine too many things and they can put the brakes on the whole case by quibbles on each issue in turn. And besides, multiple cases means multiple fines.

  3. jonfr

    The Swedes

    Oh dear, they pissed off the Swedes. Never do that.

    1. Fruit and Nutcase Silver badge
      Coat

      Re: The Swedes

      Oh dear, they pissed off the Swedes. Never do that.

      "Don't I know it" says man on couch at the Ecuadorian Embassy in London

      1. Doctor Syntax Silver badge

        Re: The Swedes

        "man on couch at the Ecuadorian Embassy in London"

        According to the Grauniad he's come up with yet another wheeze to get his name in the papers.

    2. John Brown (no body) Silver badge

      Re: The Swedes

      "Oh dear, they pissed off the Swedes. Never do that."

      Yeah, they might fill your cloud with meatballs :-)

  4. nematoad

    Oh dear!

    Looks like the chickens might be coming home to roost.

    Given that the French have had their turn and now the Swedes, what are the odds on other EU members also having a swipe at Google, Facebook and friends?

    Don't count on the UK joining in, the government wants a trade deal with the US and would not want to piss off Mr. Trump

    1. Anonymous Coward
      Anonymous Coward

      Re: Oh dear!

      What? he's got shares in google?

    2. BebopWeBop

      Re: Oh dear!

      Now if it was Amazon and Bezos that would be a different matter.....

    3. Anonymous Coward
      Anonymous Coward

      Re: Don't count on the UK joining in, the government wants a trade deal with the US

      Er, when the UK rattles it's begging bowl at the US with a few million in trade deals, and the EU coughs and reminds the US of the billions upon billions of trade that could be affected, the US will quickly become very deaf.

      Rinse and repeat for any country for bloc the UK thinks it can squeeze a better deal from than the EU has.

  5. Fruit and Nutcase Silver badge

    Lookalike?

    Is that model on the photo accompanying this article the same as the one who used to be on the TeamViewer home page?

    https://web.archive.org/web/20121116071122im_/http://www.teamviewer.com/styles/sprite-index.jpg

    1. Michael Strorm Silver badge

      Re: Lookalike?

      Certainly looks like her, and she's not Swedish, she's Canadian.

      Her name is Rebecca (AKA 'Ariana') Givens and she's the world's most famous stock photo model.

      1. Fruit and Nutcase Silver badge
        Pint

        Re: Lookalike?

        @Michael Strorm

        You seem to be knowledgable about the model business...

        Storm Model Management

  6. a_yank_lurker

    Mighty big paper cuts

    GPDR may prove more deadly as it seems like strike, rinse, and repeat works very well. Get some hefty fines and watch the investors scream bloody murder both literally and figuratively. This could be interesting to watch.

    1. Anonymous Coward
      Anonymous Coward

      Re: Mighty big paper cuts

      Quickly followed by investor's lawsuits. I should have bought popcorn futures.

  7. Kevin Johnston

    Rinse/Repeat

    This could be a far more successful strategy that trying to put in place a 'digital tax'. While they may find lawyers able to weasel they way around tax legislation, they will never be able to give up the slurping as it is fundamental to their business process.

    €50m every year for each country would easily exceed any likely tax income too...win - win..unless you happen to be Google/Facebook/Twitter et al

  8. charlieboywoof
    Mushroom

    Article photo

    needs updating to a war zone.Your welcome.

    1. DJV Silver badge

      Re: Article photo

      * You're

  9. Aodhhan

    Where is the uproar--

    Credit card companies and banks do the same thing. The only difference is the frequency of the data points.

    Why isn't there uproar about this? This information is sold to credit agencies, political parties, etc. to learn everything about you.

    Think about the number of transactions you do with a debit/credit card, the information you have to provide to get a loan, etc.

    It doesn't take long before someone with this information knows more about you than you'd like them to--and it's being sold.

    The biggest difference so far, seems to be the amount of money and perks banks, credit agencies, and other lobby groups provide to politicians.

  10. Dan 55 Silver badge
    Devil

    the pop-ups trying to dissuade users from turning off (or, as Google says, "pausing") location data

    Oh no, it's not off. Google knows exactly where you are, even if it's paused on the dashboard.

    There was a story in this esteemed organ about this very thing last year.

    They didn't call it 'off' for a reason.

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