Italys competition authority has opened an investigation into cloud storage services operated by Apple, Dropbox and Google, in response to a number of complaints alleging unfair commercial practices.<\/p>\n
In a press release announcing the probe, the AGCM says its opened six investigations in all. The services of concern are Googles Drive, Apple iCloud and the eponymous Dropbox cloud storage service.<\/p>\n
As well as allegations of unfair commercial practices, the regulator said its looking into complaints of violations of Italys Consumer Rights Directive.<\/p>\n
A further complaint alleges the presence of vexatious clauses in the contract.<\/p>\n
Weve reached out to the three tech giants for comment.<\/p>\n
All three cloud storage services are being investigated over complaints of unfair practices related to the collection of user data for commercial purposes such as a lack of proper information or valid consent for such commercial data collection per the press release.<\/p>\n
Dropbox is also being accused of failing to clearly communicate contractual conditions such as procedures for withdrawing from a contract or exercising a right to reconsider. Access to out-of-court dispute settlement mechanisms is also being looked at by the regulator.<\/p>\n
Other contractual conditions probed over concerns of unfairness include clauses with sweeping rights for providers to suspend and interrupt the service; liability exemptions even in the event of loss of documents stored in the users cloud space; the possibility of unilateral modification of the contractual conditions; and the prevalence of the English version of the contract text over the Italian version.<\/p>\n
In recent years the European Commission has made a pan-EU push for social media firms to clarify their T&Cs which led to Facebook agreeing to plainer worded T&Cs last year, as well as making some additional tweaks, such as amending its power to unilaterally amend contracts.<\/p>\n
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Originally posted here:<\/p>\n
Apple iCloud, Google Drive and Dropbox probed over unfair T&Cs in Italy - TechCrunch<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" Italys competition authority has opened an investigation into cloud storage services operated by Apple, Dropbox and Google, in response to a number of complaints alleging unfair commercial practices. In a press release announcing the probe, the AGCM says its opened six investigations in all Continue reading