The French data authority, the CNIL, has clarified its position on web data scraping under the GDPR.

A guidance from the CNIL states that publicly available contact information is regarded as personal data and is entitled to protection, according to CPO magazine. 

This type of data is collected by firms that intend to “sell it to third-parties for direct marketing purposes (a process known as ‘web scraping’ or ‘data extraction’),” CPO writes. 

The guidance does not demand new rule, but the CNIL says it plans to be particularly observant of how data on French citizens is utilized, CPO says.