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Google Is Asked to Change Privacy Policy to Protect Data Google Is Asked to Change Privacy Policy to Protect Data
(about 1 hour later)
BERLIN — Regulators in Europe, Canada and Asia asked Google on Tuesday to change aspects of its 10-month-old global privacy policy, which combines data on individuals from its range of online services, to better protect personal data. BERLIN — European regulators on Tuesday threatened Google with fines or legal action unless it makes it clearer to its customers what personal data is being collected from them and how it is being used.
The unusual multilateral request was made by the French regulator, CNIL, the National Commission for Computing and Civil Liberties, at a news conference in Paris. The French agency was asked earlier this year to analyze the legality of Google’s new data policies by the European Commission’s top privacy panel, the Article 29 Working Group. In a letter to Google, the regulators stopped short of describing the company’s 10-month-old data collection policy as illegal. But it noted that Google did not appear to adhere to Europe’s approach to data collection, which requires explicit prior consent by individuals and that the data collected be kept at a minimum.
The French agency found several areas where Google’s combination of data from services such as YouTube, its Android mobile operating system and the Google search engine could compromise personal data. Its recommendations were endorsed in a letter sent to Google by Jacob Kohnstamm, the chairman of the Article 29 panel. The regulators couched their requests as “practical recommendations.” But when asked what regulators would do if Google did not accede and make changes, Jacob Kohnstamm, head of the Dutch data protection authority, said national regulators probably would take legal action to compel changes.
Mr. Kohnstamm said by telephone that privacy regulators in all 27 European Union countries, plus Canada and some countries in Asia, had signed the letter, which outlines areas for changes to improve protection of personal data.
Mr. Kohnstamm had asked Google in a letter Feb. 2 to postpone its new privacy policy so European regulators could investigate its effects on privacy. But Google declined.
“We are hoping that this time Google will listen to us,” Mr. Kohnstamm said. “We are terribly sorry to the citizens of Europe that this has happened.”
Asked what regulators would do if Google did not accede and make changes, Mr. Kohnstamm said national regulators probably would take legal action to compel changes.
“After all, enforcement is the name of the game,” Mr. Kohnstamm said.“After all, enforcement is the name of the game,” Mr. Kohnstamm said.
A Google spokesman said early Tuesday by e-mail that the company declined to comment ahead of the French regulator’s news conference. The request was made by the French regulator, CNIL, the National Commission for Computing and Civil Liberties, at a news conference in Paris. The French agency was asked this year to analyze the legality of Google’s new data policies by the European Commission’s top privacy panel, called the Article 29 Working Group.
The search engine giant said in January that its new privacy policy would consolidate information the company had collected on individuals to streamline and unify privacy policies across its business. Isabelle Falque-Pierrotin, the chairwoman of CNIL, said her agency was giving Google “three to four months” to respond to its concerns.
European regulators expressed concern at the time over Google’s decision, and deputized the French regulator to investigate whether personal data was being protected under European law. „“If Google does not implement these recommendations, we will pass to a different phase, a phase of sanctions,” Ms. Falque-Pierrotin said.
In a letter sent in February to Google’s co-founder and chief executive, Larry Page, CNIL said Google’s new policy was unclear in how it would handle personal data. Enforcement of privacy law in Europe remains a matter for national regulators. In France, CNIL has the legal ability to fine companies up to €300,000 for privacy breaches. But whether CNIL will levy a fine, and whether other E.U. countries follow suit, remains unclear.
Google said in a statement that it believed that what it calls its privacy policy was legal.
“We have received the report and are reviewing it now,” Peter Fleischer, the Google global privacy counsel, said in the statement. “Our new privacy policy demonstrates our longstanding commitment to protecting our users’ information and creating great products. We are confident that our privacy notices respect European law.”
If adopted, the recommendations could have consequences on some of Google’s main businesses, which depend on consumer profiling for the targeting of advertising.
Jeff Gould, the president of SafeGov, a San Francisco-based group representing companies that sell software and hardware to governments, said Google’s privacy policy is very similar to that used by Microsoft and Facebook.
“Their approach is that we can take anything we learn from you from our services to build a profile of a user to serve targeted ads,” Mr. Gould said in an interview. “My view is that is a completely legitimate model if you give the consumer the opportunity to opt out.”
Google’s current privacy policy requires users to accept it before being able to use the full range of services, Mr. Gould said.
“The Europeans want Google to ask the user to give their consent explicitly and on a much more specific level, to permit the collection of data for targeted ads.”
“If Google did that responsibly, I don’t think it would kill their business,” Mr. Gould said. “But that is the 64,000 Terabyte question.”
In the letter sent to Google, the European data regulators said Google’s new policy allowed the company to “combine almost any data from any services for any purpose.”
“Google did not set any limits to the combination of data nor provide clear and comprehensive tools allowing its users to control it,” the letter said.
The regulators also noted that Google failed to tell the French investigators how long it kept certain kinds of data, despite being asked to.
The group asked Google to make several specific changes to give consumers more awareness and control over their data, including an interactive online presentation of how the data is used.
The regulators also asked Google to better explain the purposes for collecting data, and how data combined from its different services — with include YouTube, a search engine and the Google Plus social network — might be used.
It also called on the company to give people greater ability to opt out if they did not want their information used for a specific purpose.
The request to Google comes as European antitrust regulators separately are investigating whether Google has used its search engine to favor its own services and through preferential rankings to put competitors at a disadvantage.The request to Google comes as European antitrust regulators separately are investigating whether Google has used its search engine to favor its own services and through preferential rankings to put competitors at a disadvantage.
The U.S. Federal Trade Commission is also preparing a recommendation that will ask the U.S. government to sue Google for its search engine practices.The U.S. Federal Trade Commission is also preparing a recommendation that will ask the U.S. government to sue Google for its search engine practices.
In Europe, Google has been under fire since it admitted in 2010 admitted that it had collected private data on individuals by secretly siphoning unencrypted Internet data that was broadcast from home WiFi routers, as Google cars drove by to take photographs for its Street View online map business.In Europe, Google has been under fire since it admitted in 2010 admitted that it had collected private data on individuals by secretly siphoning unencrypted Internet data that was broadcast from home WiFi routers, as Google cars drove by to take photographs for its Street View online map business.
Google at the time attributed the collection of WiFi data to a programmer’s error, but the computer engineer at the center of the project, who resided in California, has never publicly given his version of events. Last April, the Federal Trade Commission fined Google $25,000 for obstructing its investigation into the incident, although the regulator concluded that Google’s collection of WiFi data, while intentional, was not illegal.Google at the time attributed the collection of WiFi data to a programmer’s error, but the computer engineer at the center of the project, who resided in California, has never publicly given his version of events. Last April, the Federal Trade Commission fined Google $25,000 for obstructing its investigation into the incident, although the regulator concluded that Google’s collection of WiFi data, while intentional, was not illegal.
In Europe, a criminal and a civil investigation into Google’s WiFi data collection are still open in Germany, although most European countries have since dropped their complaints after Google apologized. In France, CNIL, which was the first European privacy agency to search the technology on Street View cars, fined Google €100,000, or $130,000, in 2011.In Europe, a criminal and a civil investigation into Google’s WiFi data collection are still open in Germany, although most European countries have since dropped their complaints after Google apologized. In France, CNIL, which was the first European privacy agency to search the technology on Street View cars, fined Google €100,000, or $130,000, in 2011.
European objections to Google’s new global privacy policies could force the U.S. company to modify its business, at least in Europe, if not around the world, said Ulrich Börger, a privacy lawyer in Hamburg with the U.S. law firm Latham & Watkins. The company uses personal data to better target and calibrate its advertising-driven business. Mr. Kohnstamm, who also serves as chairman of the Article 29 panel, said by telephone that privacy regulators in all 27 European Union countries, plus Canada and some countries in Asia, had participated in the CNIL inquiry and had endorsed the request to Google, which outlines areas for changes to improve protection of personal data.
“It really depends on what the European privacy regulators will ask of Google and how painful it is for the company to make those changes,” Mr. Börger said. “Google may decide by itself to do this, or they may have to weigh whether it is something they can do.” Mr. Kohnstamm had asked Google in a letter on Feb. 2 to postpone its new privacy policy so European regulators could investigate its effects on privacy. But Google declined.
While European regulators are coordinating their investigation into Google’s online privacy policies, enforcement of privacy law in Europe remains a matter for national regulators. In France, the CNIL has the legal ability to fine companies up to €300,000 for privacy breaches. But whether CNIL will levy a fine, and whether other E.U. countries follow suit, remains unclear. “We are hoping that this time Google will listen to us,” Mr. Kohnstamm said.
Mr. Kohnstamm said Tuesday it was the first time that European regulators had cooperated at the outset to address a privacy issue affecting all of their countries. Eric Pfanner contributed reporting from Paris.
“It is the first time we have cooperated in this manner,” Mr. Kohnstamm said. “But the Internet does not recognize any borders and if online companies go global, then data protection agencies have to go global too.”