Stichting Data Bescherming Nederland is launching a lawsuit against Adobe. According to the Dutch foundation, the tech company illegally placed tracking cookies and shared the data of millions of Dutch citizens with companies.
The data collection would affect virtually every Dutch Internet user. Even if someone has never used an Adobe product, SDBN states. Indeed, according to SDBN, the tracking cookies are placed on well-known sites, with TUI, KPN, ABP, Beter Horen, Douglas, ABP, Kijk, and the Tax Office cited as examples. Adobe would also place pieces of code in the mobile apps (for both iOS and Android) of Marktplaats, Ziggo GO, RTL, PlayStation and Buienradar to enable data collection.
Legal consent is lacking for this form of data collection, SDBN claims. For example, Internet users would not be adequately informed about the extent of data processing. Adobe would also sometimes place tracking cookies before the user chooses whether they want them. SDBN argues that Adobe uses the collected data to create profiles of Internet users.
In the complaint, SDBN alleges that Adobe shares the profiles with many other commercial parties. For example, they could use the information about individuals for advertising and marketing purposes. The data collection and trading are not entirely risk-free; they could lead to disclosure of privacy-sensitive information or identity fraud.
Lawsuit
SDBN spent the past few months trying to reach the desired outcome for the foundation with Adobe. That did not succeed, after which the lawsuit now follows. Adobe makes a lot of money with this practice,” SDBN claims. Therefore, the foundation is suing the tech company to force Adobe to change its behaviour, stop illegally collecting personal data, and claim damages for approximately seven million Dutch Internet users. The foundation also demands the destruction of illegally collected data at Adobe.
The foundation calls on Dutch people to sign up for the mass claim for free through its website. Millions of Dutch people are eligible, including those who visit the most popular websites in the Netherlands and users who click on “accept all” in the cookie banner.
SDBN previously initiated mass claims against X and Amazon. The foundation concludes that the case against Adobe is now the last that SDBN brings against big tech companies.
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