France is not a fan of Windows 10. The country’s Commission Nationale de l’Informatique et des Libertés (CNIL) has ordered Microsoft to “stop collecting excessive data and tracking browsing by users without their consent.” The CNIL says it carried out seven investigations between April 2016 and June 2016 regarding how Windows 10 functions. The commission also questioned Microsoft to verify that its privacy policy for Windows 10 complied with the French Data Protection Act. For its part, Microsoft has said it will work with CNIL, which says it found “many failures” in compliance and has given the company three months to address them. If Microsoft were not to comply, CNIL said it could initiate sanctions. CNIL’s findings are as follows: Here is Microsoft’s full statement, courtesy of David Heiner, vice president and deputy general counsel: Earlier today Microsoft received a notice from the French data protection authority, the Commission Nationale de l’Informatique et des Libertés or CNIL, raising concerns about certain aspects of Windows 10. The notice gives Microsoft three months to address the issues. We built strong privacy protections into Windows 10, and we welcome feedback as we continually work to enhance those protections. We will work closely with the CNIL over the next few months to understand the agency’s concerns fully and to work toward solutions that it will find acceptable. The CNIL noted that the Safe Harbor framework is no longer valid for transferring data from European Union to the United States. We fully understand the importance of establishing a sound legal framework for trans-Atlantic data transfers, and that is why Microsoft has been very supportive of the efforts on both side of the Atlantic that led to last week’s adoption of the Privacy Shield. As the European Commission observed, Microsoft’s January 2016 Privacy Statement states that the company adheres to the principles of the Safe Harbor Framework. Microsoft has in fact continued to live up to all of its commitments under the Safe Harbor Framework, even as the European and U.S. representatives worked toward the new Privacy Shield. As we state in our privacy statement, in addition to the Safe Harbor Framework we rely on a variety of legal mechanisms as the basis for transferring data from Europe, including standard contractual clauses, a data transfer mechanism established by the European Commission and approved by European data protection authorities, to cover data flows from the European Union to the United States. Microsoft will release an updated privacy statement next month, and that will say Microsoft intends to adopt the Privacy Shield. We are working now toward meeting the requirements of the Privacy Shield. CNIL said it is making its notice to Microsoft public because of the “seriousness of the breaches” and because the country has more than 10 million Windows users.
Investigations by France’s Commission Nationale de l’Informatique et des Libertes have concluded that Microsoft is collecting excessive data from the country’s over 10 million users, without their consent. One issue with this is that when users install Windows 10 they are then assigned an Advertising ID, this means Windows apps and other parties can use your data to serve you targeted adverts without your consent. Accused of several other privacy issues, including a lack of security and data transfer outside the EU on a ‘safe harbour’ basis, should Microsoft fail to comply with the French Data Protection Act within today, France may impose sanctions on the company.