Google on the Spot As Brave Browser Calls For GPDR Regulation Implementation

Google’s woes in Europe are about to inch a notch higher even before it settles ongoing anti-trust issues. Brave, a web browser founded by Brendan Eich has lodged a formal complaint with European authorities as it seeks to push for the implementation of the new General Data Protection Regulation.

Implementation of the new regulations could take a toll on Google’s lucrative advertising business. The GPDR regulation seeks to provide individuals greater control over their data, as opposed to companies assuming the role.

This is the first policy that foresees heavy fines for serious offences when it comes to violation of rights to people’s data. For starters, it calls for a 4% fine on a company’s global turnover on any infringement.

Implementation of the policy could have a significant impact on Google and other internet companies that rely on such data to fuel their lucrative operations such as the advertising business. The new regulation could also have a significant impact on emerging companies that come between internet giants like Google to harvest people’s data to develop consumer profiles.

The complaint lodged by backers of the privacy-focused browser allege that internet companies continue to infringe on people’s rights by auctioning data that most of the time end up fuelling the multi-billion advertising business

“There is a massive and systematic data breach at the heart of the behavioral advertising industry. Despite the two-year lead-in period before the GDPR, AgTech companies have failed to comply,” Brave’s chief policy officer Johnny Ryan told Reuters.

The complaint goes on to claim that the practice violates the GPDR’s policies that call for personal data to be processed in such a way that people’s privacy is maintained at all time. A copy of complaints seen also raises serious concerns about the wide scale and systematic breaches through the way the likes of Google place personalized Online’s ads.

Google which holds enormous troves of data given its monopoly in the search business maintains that it has put in place strong privacy control measures and is committed to complying with GPDR regulations. How true that is, is still a point of discussion, given that no other company has found itself at cross-roads with the European Union, when it comes to how people’s data is used.

Brave has sought to build a name for itself among users and regulators by operating a private browser and an ad blocker that prevents the use of trackers on web pages, commonly used to harvest people’s data.