Tech news picked on 2026-08-22
Uber Receives Second Largest GDPR Fine for Suspending Accounts Without Human Intervention
- The Dutch Data Protection Authority fined Uber €825 million for suspending and dismissing driver accounts using an algorithm without human involvement.
- This is the second largest GDPR fine in history.
- It is concerning that the violation period extends from 2020 to 2022.
- Since even previously implemented automated logic is reexamined by later standards, it is cheaper to add human review now if it was missing in the account suspension process.
- On August 20, the National Assembly passed five laws allowing researchers from public research institutes and science and technology institutes to retain shares acquired through startup creation or technology transfer.
- Startup cases from public research institutes had declined from 62 in 2020 to 25 in 2024.
- This is encouraging news for deep tech teams wanting to recruit researchers as co-founders, but restrictions on concurrent positions and commercial activities remain, and the effective date is not yet set.
- It is safer to begin recruitment discussions but postpone signing shareholding provisions until the enforcement date is confirmed.