SHARE Foundation files charges against Google and Facebook branches in Serbia
Before the new Law on Personal Data Protection had come into effect, back in May SHARE Foundation sent letters to 20 companies from around the world asking them to appoint representatives in Serbia, as required by the new law.
– Appointing the representatives for these companies isn't a question of formality. It is crucial in enabling the citizens of Serbia to exercise their rights proscribed by the Law. The current situation allows companies such as Google and Facebook to treat Serbia, as many other developing countries, as a territory for unbridled exploitation of citizens' personal data even though Serbia has harmonized its policies with the rules of the unique European digital market when it adopted the new Law. Namely, the companies in question recognize Serbia as a significant market and offer their services to Serbian users and track their activity. While doing so, these companies process enormous amount of data from Serbian users and make a huge profit off it. On the other hand, the new Law guarantees various rights regarding the processing of personal data but it seems that trying to exercise those rights would be met with many difficulties, SHARE Foundation stated in their announcement.
According to this statement, the companies don't provide clear contacts points for our citizens to address their question regarding their personal data. The only available option for them usually are report forms in a foreign language.
– Our experience has showed that these forms are inadequate since they require an advanced level of knowledge of the foreign language and also because this type of communication is done by an application which sends generic automated replies. We think that although the fines up to RSD 100,000 that the Commissioner could impose on these giant companies wouldn't really make a dent in their budgets, they could demonstrate that the relevant authorities of the Republic of Serbia are prepared to protect their citizens and to show that these companies- businesses do not comply with domestic policies, SHARE Foundation stated.
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