January 24, 2024 at 05:06AM
France’s data protection agency fined Amazon’s French warehouses unit 32 million euros for an “excessively intrusive” surveillance system monitoring employee performance through package processing scanners. The system raised alerts for inactivity exceeding 10 minutes and fast handling of packages. The surveillance violated EU’s data protection regulation. The fine equals about three percent of Amazon France Logistique’s annual revenue.
From the meeting notes, the key takeaways are as follows:
– France’s data protection agency, CNIL, fined Amazon’s French warehouses unit 32 million euros for an excessively intrusive surveillance system used to monitor staff performance, in contravention of the EU’s general data protection regulation (GDPR).
– The surveillance system included tracking employees’ work using data from scanners, and it imposed pressure on workers, who were under constant monitoring and required to justify absences.
– The fine was equivalent to about three percent of Amazon France Logistique’s annual revenue, which reached 1.1 billion euros in 2021.
– Amazon rejected the findings, citing the necessity of such systems for security, quality, and efficiency, and reserved the right to appeal.
– In response to the CNIL’s findings, Amazon stated it would deactivate the ability of the “stow machine guns” to signal handling speeds and extend the “idle time” warnings to 30 minutes from 10.
These are the main points to be highlighted from the provided meeting notes.