6 August 2015.
The data privacy watchdog in France, the CNIL, has ordered eight French dating websites to improve their online privacy and security protocols or risk being hit with a 150,000 Euro fine, equivalent to 165,000 US dollars.
The CNIL investigated the dating websites' security measures and found them to be inadequate, with problems such as a lack of transparency about data collection, keeping user data even when a user had closed their account, and a lack of encryption being commonplace.
This is in direct violation of French law, which states that websites must get explicit consent from users before collecting “sensitive” data such as sexual orientation, ethnicity, and religious and political opinions.
The websites now have 3 months to improve their privacy and security to be in line with French law, or they will be fined.
