Argentina: Adopted declaration on data scraping and privacy addressing data protection regulation

On 24 August 2023, several data protection authorities (DPAs) including from New Zealand, Canada, Australia, and the UK, among others, issued a statement jointly addressing the issue of data scraping and privacy. They emphasise that publicly accessible online personal information is still subject to data protection laws. Social media platforms and websites hosting such data must ensure protection against unlawful data scraping. Instances of mass data scraping that gather personal data, which can be used for training data for generative AI, can be considered data breaches in some jurisdictions. The DPAs state that data scraping poses various privacy risks, from cyberattacks to identity fraud. The statement calls on platforms to implement technical controls such as rate limiting and monitoring to prevent scraping. Individuals are urged to be cautious about sharing sensitive data and to understand and manage privacy settings. The joint statement aims to guide platforms in safeguarding personal data and empowering individuals to protect their privacy online.