Legal & Privacy Brief

Today: EU member states are considering proposals that would allow AI companies to use personal data without consent when training or deploying AI systems, effectively overriding GDPR protections. Class action litigation targets Zillow over rent payment processing fees and Amazon over alleged wage suppression schemes affecting delivery drivers.

Privacy Developments

EU Proposes Sweeping AI Data Exception to GDPR

A leaked document from the Irish Council Presidency proposes allowing AI companies to process personal data "in the context of AI" without user consent, treating commercial interests as automatically overriding the fundamental right to data protection under GDPR. The proposal, part of the Digital Omnibus fast-track procedure, would apply retroactively to all personal data collected by companies over past decades, including chat logs, social media posts, and customer records. Privacy advocacy group noyb characterizes this as "digital expropriation" that primarily benefits US and Chinese AI corporations (OpenAI, Anthropic, Google, Meta, SpaceX) headquartered in Ireland for EU operations. Germany and other member states have expressed informal support for the liberalization.

• Compliance Action: EU-based companies and their US counterparts processing EU personal data should monitor the Digital Omnibus proceedings. If adopted, this would fundamentally alter the legal basis for AI training data and could eliminate current GDPR Article 6 consent requirements for AI contexts. Companies should prepare for potential policy conflicts between AI development objectives and existing privacy compliance frameworks.
• Source: noyb

Litigation Updates

Zillow Faces Class Action Over Rent Payment Processing Fees

A class action lawsuit alleges Zillow charges illegal "junk fees" for rent payments processed through its Zillow Rental Manager service. The complaint challenges the fees as potentially violating consumer protection statutes, though specific penalty amounts and legal theories were not disclosed in available reporting.

• Source: Top Class Actions

Amazon Delivery Driver Class Action Alleges Wage Suppression Scheme

A class action lawsuit accuses Amazon of orchestrating a deliberate scheme to suppress wages for hundreds of thousands of delivery drivers across the United States. The complaint alleges unlawful wage practices, though specific legal claims, jurisdictions, and alleged damages were not detailed in available reporting.

• Source: Top Class Actions

Compliance Takeaways

• Monitor the EU Digital Omnibus AI data processing proposals. If your organization processes EU personal data and uses it for AI training or deployment, current GDPR consent and legitimate interest analyses may become obsolete under the proposed framework.
• Companies using third-party rent payment platforms should review fee disclosure practices and state consumer protection compliance in light of the Zillow litigation.
• Organizations using delivery service providers or gig economy labor models should review wage calculation and payment practices for compliance with applicable labor laws, particularly given increased litigation scrutiny of platform-mediated labor arrangements.