BY AGENCIES
EUROPEAN Union data protection officials have asked Google to halt its implementation of a controversial new privacy policy while its affect on users is examined.
The sweeping changes to rules that Google announced last week give it greater scope to deploy personal information of its hundreds of millions of users across its many services, from search and email to its video site, YouTube, its Android smartphone software, and Google+, its social networking platform.
The Article 29 working group, a group of national officials who advise the EU on data protection issues, has written to Larry Page, Google’s chief executive, questioning the new approach.
“We wish to check the possible consequences for the protection of the personal data of these [EU] citizens in a co-ordinated procedure,” wrote Jacob Kohnstamm, chairman of Article 29, which has clashed with Google and other internet companies several times in recent years.
Kohnstamm said the group had asked the French data protection watchdog, CNIL, to lead the probe.
Google said it would respond to the letter and brief the group on the changes but refused to put the March 1 implementation on hold, saying that “delaying the policy would cause significant confusion” and added that Article 29 has no legal powers to force it to halt the procedure.
“We briefed most of the members of the working party in the weeks leading up to our announcement,” Google said. “None of them expressed substantial concerns at the time, but of course we are happy to speak with any DPA [data protection agency] that has questions.”
Google has warned its users of the changes repeatedly via its website, email and several blogs.
Privacy campaigners in the United States have challenged Google over the changes, amid mounting concern about the search company’s handling of personal information. Its longstanding rival, Microsoft, has even attacked Google’s trustworthiness in newspaper advertisements.
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