On this point, European politicians finally agreed new data protection rules at the back end of last year which will tighten the region's rules around data processing consent — with a requirement that companies doing business in the European Union obtain unambiguous consent from consumers for use of their data.
The stringent new rules, which force companies to get "unambiguous consent" from online users to make use of their data, are expected to be adopted in the UK regardless of Brexit.
In addition to that, Google doesn't ask for specific and unambiguous consent when you create an account — the option to opt out of personalized ads is hidden behind a "More options" link.
The Dutch DPA's assertion here, with Windows 10, is that Microsoft is failing to obtain "valid consent for the processing of [people's] personal data" under current EU DP law — pointing out that, for example, it uses "opt-out options" so does not obtain "unambiguous consent".
The EU Data Protection directive, which came into force last October, aims to give people control over their data, requiring "unambiguous" consent before a company or agency can process it, and barring the use of the data for any purpose other than that for which it was originally collected.
The ministers debated a proposal that would no longer require companies to obtain "explicit" consent from users whose personal data they collect and process, instead of "unambiguous" consent, which is considered to be a lower legal threshold.
The ministers debated a proposal that would allow companies to obtain "unambiguous" consent, which is considered a lower legal threshold than the "explicit" consent now required from users whose personal data they collect and process.
"The data subject is not given an unambiguous consent to the processing of personal data by applications (no opt-in).
And finally, if the nature of consent is ever contested, PayPal must be able to show that "unambiguous consent was obtained," the FCC says.
"Training and education needs to start as early as possible, for boys and girls, to emphasize that sexual activity in particular is the kind of thing where you always need unambiguous consent," she says.
