
Italia initiated investigation against Google, Apple and Dropbox cloud services - stiray
https://www.agcm.it/media/comunicati-stampa/2020/9/CV194-CV195-CV196-PS11147-PS11149-PS11150
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stiray
Translation: \--- CV194-CV195-CV196-PS11147-PS11149-PS11150 - Investigation
initiated against Google, Apple and Dropbox for cloud computing services

The proceedings relate to alleged unfair commercial practices and the possible
presence of unfair clauses in the contractual conditions.

The Competition and Market Authority has initiated six investigations against
some of the main global operators of cloud computing services. The parties
involved are Google (for the Google Drive service), Apple (for the iCloud
service) and Dropbox, each affected by both a proceeding for alleged unfair
commercial practices and / or violations of the Consumer Rights Directive and
one for alleged clauses vexatious included in the contractual conditions.

In particular, the investigations for unfair practices against Google and
Apple concern the failure or inadequate indication, when presenting the
service, of the collection and use for commercial purposes of the data
provided by the user and the possible undue influence in towards consumers,
who, in order to use the cloud storage service, would not be in a position to
give the operator their consent to the collection and use of information
concerning them for commercial purposes.

The same complaints are also raised against Dropbox, which is also accused -
in addition - of failing to provide in a clear and immediately accessible
manner the information on the conditions, terms and procedures for withdrawing
from the contract and for exercising the right to reconsider. In addition, not
to allow the user the easy use of out-of-court dispute settlement mechanisms,
to which the professional is subject, with the necessary information to access
them.

Proceedings for unfair clauses, on the other hand, concern some contractual
conditions set out in the relative models of the aforementioned companies,
such as: the operator's ample right to suspend and interrupt the service; the
exemption from liability even in the event of loss of documents stored in the
user's cloud space; the possibility of unilateral modification of the
contractual conditions; the prevalence of the English version of the contract
text over the Italian version.

Rome, 7 September 2020

