· Google, Amazon fined $163 million by French privacy watchdog
France’s data privacy watchdog has fined Google 100 millions euros ($121 million) and Amazon 35 million euros ($42 million) for breaching the country’s rules on advertising cookies.
The CNIL said Thursday that the French websites of both companies did not request prior consent from internet users about trackers, or cookies, that were automatically saved on computers for advertising purposes. It said Google and Amazon also failed to provide clear information to users about the purposes of these cookies and how they might refuse them.
The CNIL noted that both companies made changes to their websites in September, yet said efforts were not sufficient to be in line with French rules.
· Technology could help sustainable investing turn the corner, says JPMorgan
While there’s “nothing new” to sustainable investing, technology has made it easier to state the financial case for considering non-financial metrics, according to JPMorgan.
“The amount of data that we’re able to leverage as investors to help the dialogue that we have with companies is more than ever,” said Jennifer Wu, the bank’s global head of sustainable investing, during a panel session at Singapore’s FinTech Festival.
From artificial intelligence to big data and machine learning, the information is now there to better measure environmental factors and their economic implications, she said. Satellite images, for instance, can now be used to observe and measure a company’s true environmental impact, such as pollution levels.
“That’s something very powerful,” said Wu, noting a marked shift over the past three or four years. “It’s not something that we had access to (previously), but it’s possible now.”
· Asian shares boosted by vaccines hopes, Brexit deadline casts shadow
Asian shares rose on Friday as progress on COVID-19 vaccines boosted investor sentiment, but tricky Brexit negotiations and U.S. stimulus talks capped gains in riskier assets.
Japan stocks lower at close of trade; Nikkei 225 down 0.39% after the close on Friday, as losses in the Paper & Pulp, Railway & Bus and Real Estate sectors led shares lower.
Investors bet on stronger economic growth next year as more countries prepare for vaccinations. U.S. authorities voted overwhelmingly to endorse emergency use of Pfizer’s coronavirus vaccine while doses of a COVID-19 vaccine made by China’s Sinovac Biotech SVA.O are rolling off a Brazilian production line.
Buying fizzled out in some markets as talks on U.S. stimulus failed to make progress and after British Prime Minister Boris Johnson said on Thursday there was “a strong possibility” Britain and the EU would fail to strike a trade deal.
Britain and the EU have set a deadline of Sunday to find an agreement, ahead of Jan. 1, when the United Kingdom finally exits the bloc’s orbit.
Reference: Reuters, CNBC
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