The European Union Agency for Fundamental Rights points to the potential for errors with possible judicial consequences, including discrimination, privacy, rights of minors and its long-term impact on the functioning of democracy.
Lawmakers argue that repeated privacy lapses can be a sign that a company -- Facebook is often cited as a prime example -- has let product quality and customer service slip.
Most of the data was collected by a company called People Data Labs, which provides work emails and social media account details for what the company claims is a billion and a half people.
“We need strong enforcement, because only then will the right to control our data become a reality in people’s lives,” Vestager told a privacy conference in Brussels. “Only then can we start to restore Europeans’ trust in the digital world.”
The EU’s request could add a new strand to the antitrust probe it opened in July that’s looking into how Amazon’s retail arm uses data gathered on marketplace merchants to gain an advantage.
In a blog post, the tech giant said it will apply the upcoming California law on data privacy to all customers in the United States.
