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Grindr €6.5M fined for not collecting users’ valid consent for sharing data

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Re: Grindr €6.5M fined for not collecting users’ valid consent for sharing data

#91

Post by retrac »

rvnx wrote: post #66
lettergram wrote: post #49

Earlier quoted context omitted.

A fine of this size indicates to me they should harvest and sell more data to increase profits. Tens of millions would still probably be worth it to Grindr. Imagine your a government who doesn’t like homosexuals. Pay a fee - $5-$10m and you’ll get a list of users globally. Probably with travel patterns. Next time they enter the country, arrest or block visas before they enter. Nah, this fine (which I don’t even know…

Wait a second, it's not Grindr gathering and selling a list of homosexuals interested into sex. It's the users themselves who actively register on Grindr to announce their services and picture on the platform. If this activity is illegal in the country of the user, the best Grindr can do, is to prevent users from these countries from registering on the platform based on their national ID, but that's basically it.

You don't have to be living in a country where homosexuality is illegal to not want your presence on a dating app - straight or gay - to be public knowledge.

Speaking from unfortunate experience about half the men on Grindr do not put up identifying pictures. Many are in relationships with men and are cheating. And many present publicly as heterosexual or are married to women.

It's a blackmailer's jackpot.

Re: Grindr €6.5M fined for not collecting users’ valid consent for sharing data

#92

Post by Mirioron »

jacquesm wrote: post #30
charcircuit wrote: post #23

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Or you could see it as operating in the EU is a liability. If you don't handle data in just the way they like they will come after you.

The EU is merely leading the way here, you can expect all of the developed world to have similar data protection laws on the books sooner or later. And if you think that treating data in the proper way is hard then you probably shouldn't be in business at all. Operating in the EU is not a liability if you treat your users data in a respectful and responsible way. Common sense alone would answer your questions on what…

How are websites and apps going to make money though? Like it or not, the reason the internet became this popular is because of all the free stuff on it. If everything was behind subscription fees it possibly would never have taken off. I don't think I would've ever used Google if they had charged a fee for the service.

This would effectively make political interests entrenched even more on the internet, because they'll see it as worthwhile to make free services. They get to feed you politically slanted ideas - just like free political newspapers.

>Operating in the EU is not a liability if you treat your users data in a respectful and responsible way. Common sense alone would answer your questions on what is and what isn't allowed in the vast majority of the cases.

Relying on common sense is playing with fire. Common sense says that with this many people using the services of these companies that people are okay with what these companies are doing. That's not what GDPR says and that's not something I had any vote on or anything like that.

You might prefer the cable TV model, but I prefer YouTube. I like that I don't have to pay anything to go look at a large variety of topics. Far more than any paid service would ever provide.

Re: Grindr €6.5M fined for not collecting users’ valid consent for sharing data

#93

Post by hwers »

Terry_Roll wrote: post #90
ryandrake wrote: post #20

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I remember someone here putting it this way: treat user data like uranium, not oil. Both are valuable, but you don’t want to just collect and store an unlimited amount of uranium. Collect the bare minimum user data you need to operate your business and then dispose of it when it’s no longer needed.

You can collect as much data as you like, its what you do with it that counts.

Unless you get a leak and people find out and your reputation is ruined.

Re: Grindr €6.5M fined for not collecting users’ valid consent for sharing data

#94

Post by cblconfederate »

999900000999 wrote: post #61
morbia wrote: post #43

Earlier quoted context omitted.

With respect, that is easy to say when ~50% of the population is a potential partner and is easily determinable. When you are gay and the majority of guys are straight, finding partners organically is near impossible (unless you're in a gay bar or something). I'm not condoning Grindr's actions or that people shouldn't use it with care, but it really has become a key part of LGBT networking in the modern era.

I think it depends on where you are, the city I live in has a very large gay scene. So I've had guys just try to chat me up while I'm at a restaurant or something, I don't mind. The only time it was a bit weird is when a co-worker told me I look like his husband, not okay to say at work.

As you just said, it is not easy for people to meet people in a culture where looks and small talk with romantic intent is frowned upon, puts peoples jobs in danger and is generally already going extinct. Plus grindr is used for hookups, and it makes it a lot easier, something that does not have a safe equivalent in real life.

Re: Grindr €6.5M fined for not collecting users’ valid consent for sharing data

#95

Post by phoe-krk »

Terry_Roll wrote: post #90
ryandrake wrote: post #20

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I remember someone here putting it this way: treat user data like uranium, not oil. Both are valuable, but you don’t want to just collect and store an unlimited amount of uranium. Collect the bare minimum user data you need to operate your business and then dispose of it when it’s no longer needed.

You can collect as much data as you like, its what you do with it that counts.

I don't think your statement holds true in practice. Collecting data that you then don't do anything with, in theory or even in practice, is also something that GDPR penalizes, since there's no need for you to collect it if you claim you don't do anything with it.

Re: Grindr €6.5M fined for not collecting users’ valid consent for sharing data

#96

Post by [deleted] »

Terry_Roll wrote: post #90
ryandrake wrote: post #20

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I remember someone here putting it this way: treat user data like uranium, not oil. Both are valuable, but you don’t want to just collect and store an unlimited amount of uranium. Collect the bare minimum user data you need to operate your business and then dispose of it when it’s no longer needed.

You can collect as much data as you like, its what you do with it that counts.

[deleted]

Re: Grindr €6.5M fined for not collecting users’ valid consent for sharing data

#97

Post by GordonS »

stackbutterflow wrote: post #84
jacquesm wrote: post #16

The sooner companies start to realize that personal data is a liability rather than an asset the better. Happy to see this fine, but as far as I'm concerned given the kind of data we're talking about here it should have been higher.

What if half of the fine was given to the user(s)? That way users would have an incentive to sue companies (i.e get rich quick). That way personal data would really have to be considered a liability if companies don't want to start giving millions to their users left and right.

Grindr has around 4 million daily users, and up to 30 million registered users in total. Even a fine of this size would be meaningless once divided between the users.

Re: Grindr €6.5M fined for not collecting users’ valid consent for sharing data

#98

Post by rvnx »

kryogen1c wrote: post #64
ryandrake wrote: post #20

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I remember someone here putting it this way: treat user data like uranium, not oil. Both are valuable, but you don’t want to just collect and store an unlimited amount of uranium. Collect the bare minimum user data you need to operate your business and then dispose of it when it’s no longer needed.

neat, this analogy travels pretty far - user data is radioactive. theres a background amount of radiation. its everywhere, even in higher amounts than youd expect like bananas and airplanes. no amount is safe, but the risks are neglibly small when exposure is minimized. concentrated amounts can be safe when exposure is controlled and managed with oversight programs in place. disasters can be managed with disaster pro…

Isn't the typical storage and handling for Uranium quite safe and even safer than oil ?

Triuranium octoxide (Yellowcake):

Yellowcake is as radiologically harmless as natural potassium-carrying minerals or thorium-oxide mantles used in paraffin fuel lanterns.

Re: Grindr €6.5M fined for not collecting users’ valid consent for sharing data

#99

Post by mrweasel »

Terry_Roll wrote: post #90
ryandrake wrote: post #20

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I remember someone here putting it this way: treat user data like uranium, not oil. Both are valuable, but you don’t want to just collect and store an unlimited amount of uranium. Collect the bare minimum user data you need to operate your business and then dispose of it when it’s no longer needed.

You can collect as much data as you like, its what you do with it that counts.

Right It’s the storing and sharing part that’s a liability.

Re: Grindr €6.5M fined for not collecting users’ valid consent for sharing data

#100

Post by olalonde »

jacquesm wrote: post #16

The sooner companies start to realize that personal data is a liability rather than an asset the better. Happy to see this fine, but as far as I'm concerned given the kind of data we're talking about here it should have been higher.

I'd rather let people freely decide what they want to do with their data. But this is no longer possible in Europe unfortunately.
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