ROME, April 20 (Reuters) - Italy's privacy watchdog said on Monday it had fined Poste Italiane and its payments card unit Postepay a total of more than 12.5 million euros ($14.7 million) for illicit
Italy's privacy watchdog fines Poste Italiane more than 12.5 million euros
Overview of the Poste Italiane Data Privacy Fine
Details of the Fine
ROME, April 20 (Reuters) - Italy's privacy watchdog said on Monday it had fined Poste Italiane and its payments card unit Postepay a total of more than 12.5 million euros ($14.7 million) for illicit processing of the personal data of millions of users.
Poste Italiane's Response
Poste, which offers financial and payment services beyond its traditional postal services, rejected in a statement all allegations and reaffirmed "correctness and transparency of its actions."
Watchdog's Findings
Intrusive App Features
The Italian data watchdog said some features of Poste's mobile apps, aimed at identifying malicious software, were excessively intrusive and not strictly necessary for fraud‑prevention purposes.
Breaches of Data Protection Law
The watchdog said it had identified several breaches of data protection law, including inadequate user information and the absence of a proper data protection impact assessment.
Poste Italiane's Justification
Lawful Data Access
Poste replied by saying it had lawfully accessed technical data from customers' devices, in accordance with payment services legislation, "for the sole purpose of activating anti-fraud and anti-malware safeguards."
Exchange Rate Information
($1 = 0.8483 euros)
Reporting Credits
(Reporting by Alvise Armellini and Elvira Pollina, editing by Gavin Jones and Tomasz Janowski)
