MarketWatch’s John Shinal has this report that an EU Advisory body has sent to Google warning the search giant that its privacy practices are not up to its standards. The Norwegian Data Protection Group, which is represented on an advisory body known as the Article 29 Working Party, sent the letter to Google in the wake of the company’s announcement that it is buying ad giant DoubleClick in a $3.1 billion deal.
Although it is not clear from Shinal’s article, the DoubleClick acquisition heightens privacy concerns because of the massive amount of data DoubleClick keeps on users’ activities regarding ad viewing, ad usage and so forth. Google’s position is that it has already tightened its privacy policies in a way that addresses concerns of the EU group.
The broader body, the Working Party, is apparently gearing up to send its own letter to Google. If Google is found to be in violation of an EU member’s national privacy laws, the company is subject to fines.
Google may or may not be engaging in privacy practices that aren’t up to snuff, but the EU shouldn’t be throwing stones. The powerful non-governmental body has itself come under scrutiny for issuing a directive that expands data storage requirements for telecommunications carriers, all in the name of fighting terrorism. Several EU members are going beyond even those expanded requirements to force, for example, identity verification for email accounts and to require phone companies to keep records of the precise locations of its mobile callers.
Cynthia Brumfield at 12:25 PM|Comments(0)
Blogs We Read
