From TechNewsWorld: 6 key EU nations have joined forces to take legal action against Google over the privacy protections of its user data.
France, Spain, Italy, the UK, the Netherlands and Germany have announced that they will take joint legal action against Google over its privacy policies. The action will include investigations, and possible fines. The proposed action comes after Google’s decision last year to consolidate its more than 70 privacy policies into a single policy. This prompted investigatory action by the EU’s Article 29 Working Party, which advises the EU on data protection and the free movement of information on individuals.
France’s privacy authority, CNIL, led the investigation.
CNIL claims that Google didn’t comply with the EU data protection authorities’ recommendations issued in October, and did not follow up after a meeting with representatives of the six countries now investigating the company. The 6 nations are now looking for more information from the company such as the kind of data it collects from users, how long it keeps that information, and what kinds of easy-to-use tools it can offer customers to help them protect ther privacy.
Says Google spokesperson Nadja Blagojevic:
Our privacy policy respects European law and allows us to create simpler, more effective services . We have engaged fully with the [data protection authorities] involved throughout this process, and we’ll continue to do so going forward.
You can read more about this investigatory action here.