Google told to fix privacy policy

EU watchdogs have said Google must revise its privacy policy. It follows the firm's decision in March to consolidate 60 separate privacy policies into a single agreement. The move allowed it to pool data from across its products, including use of its video site YouTube, social network Google+ and smartphone system Android - potentially helping it target adverts. French data privacy regulator CNIL - which led the inquiry - said the US company had "months" to make changes. Google habeen told it should give clearer information about what data is being collected and for what purpose. It has also been told to give users more control over how the information is combined. It has been warned that if it took no action, CNIL would "enter a phase of litigation". Google said it needed more time to provide a detailed response. "We have received the report and are reviewing it now," said Peter Fleischer, its global privacy counsel. Continue reading the main story Analysis Rory Cellan-Jones Technology correspondent Google had a lot riding on the decision from the EU data protection watchdogs. The revised privacy policy, which came into force on 1 March, gives its advertisers access to a much richer pool of data from users across its many services. Now CNIL has issued a critical report on the policy, and called for changes, with a warning that there could be litigation if Google does not respond. But the search giant has gone into spin mode, pointing out that that its policy has not been ruled illegal and it hasn't been asked to roll it back. A spokesman was also eager to point out that Microsoft had unveiled a similar privacy code this week. But Google - like Microsoft before it - is now firmly in the sights of the world's regulators, with an EU competition ruling the next hurdle to clear. The search firm insists that everything it does is in the interest of its users - its problem is that the world is no longer quite so inclined to see it as a big friendly giant. "Our new privacy policy demonstrates our long-standing commitment to protecting our users' information and creating great products. We are confident that our privacy notices respect European law." 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". French investigation CNIL carried out the investigation into Google on behalf of the 27 members of the European Union. Although Greece, Romania and Lithuania have yet to sign up to the findings, non-EU states Croatia and Liechtenstein have done so. After studying Google's revised policy in depth, the agency said it believed Google had failed to place any limit on the "scope of collection and the potential uses of the personal data", meaning it might be in breach of several of the bloc's data protection principles. Specifically, CNIL said it was unhappy that users were unable to determine or control what kinds of data were being processed and for what use. It noted that the revised privacy policy did not distinguish between search engine queries, typed-in credit card numbers or telephone communications. Furthermore it highlighted the wide range of potential uses Google might have for the data including product development, security, advertising and academic research. It said that EU data protection laws place limits on such activities and proposed the following changes: Google must "reinforce users' consent". It suggests this could be done by allowing its members to choose under what circumstances data about them was combined by asking them to click on dedicated buttons. The firm should offer a centralised opt-out tool and allow users to decide which of Google's services provided data about them. Google should adapt its own tools so that it could limit data use to authorised purposes. For example, it should be able to use a person's collated data to improve security efforts but not to target advertising. Please turn on JavaScript. Media requires JavaScript to play. //

Google told to fix privacy policy 2012-10-16T11:58:00-07:00 Rating: 4.5 Diposkan Oleh: Undercover 999