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| Amnesty International calls for a ban on Google getting Fitbit |
Amnesty International, a human rights NGO, has sent a letter to the European Union Competition Watch, asking it to ban Google from acquiring Fitbit, which manufactures wearables, unless it does "it offers a real guarantee."
Google announced a year ago that it intended to allocate $ 2.1 billion to the Fitbit acquisition, but it has not yet received regulatory approval from the European Union.
Amnesty International wrote in a letter to competition organization Margrethe Vestager: The committee must ensure that a merger does not take place unless the two companies can demonstrate that they have fully taken into account human rights risks and taken strong and meaningful safeguards to address those risks in order to prevent. In the future.
The letter asked the committee to respond to previous calls from civil society organizations regarding inclusion issues.
In a report released last year, the non-governmental organization criticized the business models of Google and Facebook, saying that these surveillance giants may be undermining human rights at the population level.
Amnesty International now warns that Google, due to its surveillance-based business model, is collecting data on various platforms.
The source said: Google's business model has spurred the company to constantly search for more data about more people around the world, and the Fitbit integration is a clear example of the comprehensive data mining method it won out for. It allows you to expand your data collection.
"Google's business model is very damaging to our privacy," she added. This is an unprecedented violation of our privacy and destroys the essence of privacy.
Westager decided to conduct an in-depth investigation in August, hoping that by strengthening Google's dominant position in the online advertising market, it would ensure that the deal did not tarnish the competition.
The team also expressed concern that Google might block other wearable manufacturers from accessing its ecosystem.
Amnesty International is the latest human rights organization to call for a ban on integration. A few months ago, data protection organizations warned against giving the tech giant access to sensitive health data.
In the letter, Amnesty International said that Google's guarantee was not sufficient and warned that the company's outdated privacy practices increased the need for strict safeguards.
Google's use of algorithms not only violates people's privacy, but it also violates Amnesty International's principle of equal rights for all people.