EU Tells Google to Fix Their Privacy Statement
This year has not been a particularly harmonious one for Google and the European Union. Earlier this year the EU ordered Google to change their search results due to anti-trust fears.
This week has seen another run-in between the two, with the EU ordering Google to update its privacy policy. The BBC reveal that they have encountered EU opposition to its consolidation of 60 seperate privacy policies into one single agreement.
Google made this move back in March in an attempt to allow each Google product to access common data as users navigate the Google stable of websites, with an obvious aim of targetting adverts more effectively.
The move has however raised privacy concerns amongst the EU, with French privacy regulator CNIL telling the search giants that they have a matter of months to update their privacy settings.
They have told Google that they need to provide users with clearer information about what data is being collected about them, and what the purpose of that collection is. They also want users to have greater control over how information is combined.
Should Google not adhere to this request, CNIL reveal that litigation would result.
It represents a blow to Google, who were hoping that the new privacy policy would provide much better data for advertisers on their sites.
Although Google has not been directly accused of acting illegally, it has been accused of providing "incomplete and approximate" details raising "deep concerns about data protection and the respect of the European law".
It is likely that this discussion will see users granted greater control over the data that Google holds on them, with users given the power to opt-out of data being collected by specific products and to opt-out of their data being used for specific purposes, such as advertising for instance.
CNIL's president Isabelle Falque-Pierrotin said the company had "three or four months" to make the revisions, otherwise "authorities in several countries can take action against Google".
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