The Spanish Agency for Data Protection (AEPD) opened an investigation to determine if the new privacy policy of Whatsapp, which provides for sharing of information of its users (like phone numbers) with Facebook, complies with the Spanish legislation, it was reported today.
The AEPD is added to the decisions taken last week by the authorities of data from the United Kingdom -which opened a similar investigation – and of Germany, which ordered Facebook to stop collecting and storing data of the people who use WhatsApp, while the National Directorate of Personal Data Protection of argentina said that it is reviewing “how they handled the issue of the consent” of the users of the chat service.
through a statement released by the EFE agency, the AEPD stated that it initiated ex officio “actions of previous research” to examine whether the transactions of information between Whatsapp and Facebook respect the Spanish legislation on data protection and, in case of not fulfil them, “identify the corresponding responsibilities”.
The Agency will investigate what type of information is collected and shared between the messaging service and the social network, the purposes for which we use those data, the periods of conservation of the same and the options offered by Whatsapp for the user objects to the processing of your personal information.
His performance, he reported, will be coordinated with that being carried out by the authorities of Germany, Italy or the Uk, although he recalled that each one of them acts to exercise the powers conferred by their respective national law.
In the case of finding evidence that the new privacy policy of Whatsapp fails to comply with the Spanish regulations for the protection of data, AEPD would initiate a disciplinary proceeding.
The investigation came in the wake of the 25th of August the chat service, announced that they would start to share with the social network’s california-based phone number of its users, as well as information about the frequency with which they used the instant messaging service.
As explained by Whatsapp on that occasion, among the objectives underlying this information exchange is to improve the effectiveness of advertising -displaying ads that are more relevant to the users of Facebook – and to combat abuses and unwanted messages.
With the changes, users of the messaging service can refuse to allow their data to be used to “enhance experiences with respect to products and advertisements”, but not to that Facebook knows their phone number and their patterns of activity in Whatsapp.
on The 27th of September, Germany took the kickoff in this series of investigations when the commission of data protection of the city of Hamburg demanded the social network Facebook, which allow to collect and store data of the users of the chat service, and in addition demanded he delete all the information that you already saved.
“it Has to be a decision of the users to connect their personal data with Facebook,” he said Johannes Caspar, head of the commission, and clarified that “then, Facebook has to ask permission to move forward. And that’s not happened.”
Three days later, the owner of the data protection commissioner of the Uk (ICO, for its acronym in English), Elizabeth Denham, reported that it began “a research on the shared data” between the companies -both owned by Facebook-.
“There are people very angry. And this goes back to the promises of commitment, legitimacy and transparency. We have initiated a research linked with the data that’s being shared, recalling that when Facebook purchased WhatsApp in 2014 there was a commitment that both of these companies were not going to share information,” said the commissioner.
On the same line, the National director of Protection of Personal Data, Eduardo Bertoni, said in dialogue with Telam that the agency is reviewing the changes in the privacy policies of WhatsApp “and how it handled the issue of the consent” of its users.
To determine the legality or illegality of the agreement between the two companies according to the regulations in argentina “the key issue is to determine if there was consent on the part of the holders of the data,” he said, and added that “once the analysis is completed we could, as a body controller who we are, ask for clarifications to companies, and if you are not successful you could even start a record that can end up in a penalty”, he said.
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