UK Demands Google to Change Privacy Policy

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Google only has 76 days to make a change.

Back in early 2012, Google announced plans to consolidate more than 60 of its individual policies into a main privacy policy. Prior to this change, Google had more than 70 privacy documents covering its different products. However, many users took issue with Google's new policy, which the search giant explained would track users across all of the Google products they used and treat them as a single user.

Following an investigation, the UK's information commissioner has given Google a deadline to improve its privacy policies. Specifically, the ICO believes that the updated policy does not provide Google users with sufficient information to understand how their data will be used and stored across the company's products.

"Google must now amend their privacy policy to make it more informative for individual service users," the ICO said in a statement. "Failure to take the necessary action to improve the policies compliance with the Data Protection Act by 20 September will leave the company open to the possibility of formal enforcement action."

The news follows similar action from France and Spain, and the UK's ICO says it reached its decision after working with the other members of the Article 29 Working Party, made up of the other 27 data protection authorities from across Europe. According to the Guardian newspaper, Germany and Italy have also requested that Google make changes to its policy.

Jane McEntegart
8 Comments Comment from the forums
  • Wamphryi
    Why are they bothering? All this Data Protection Act while the major western governments tap into fibre optic networks and retain copies of peoples digital lives. There is no Privacy so why bother forcing it on Corporates?
    Reply
  • Marcus52
    I find it more than ironic that other nations are more concerned about privacy than the U.S. government seems to be.

    Read the fine print for Google+. Did you know Google clams ownership of every word you use on that "service"? Facebook is bad enough.
    Reply
  • halcyon
    If you live in the U.S. you don‘t really have any privacy from the government and Googles and this is not new. There seems to be a lot of folks that are either acting or are indeed shocked by this. As long as I have reasonable privacy from the common Joe I can live with it I suppose.
    Reply
  • beoza
    I'm all for consolidating all those documents into one just to make it easier to have all the info in one place. But all the legal jargon makes many of these documents useless to the common man. These policies use to be written in plain english that even a 4 year old could understand, now you have to have a lawyer just to even understand what their lawyer said. These end up being TLDR documents! So I agree with the UK and other European contries on making Google make the document "more informative for individual service users".
    Reply
  • 10hellfire01
    11106783 said:
    I'm all for consolidating all those documents into one just to make it easier to have all the info in one place. But all the legal jargon makes many of these documents useless to the common man. These policies use to be written in plain english that even a 4 year old could understand, now you have to have a lawyer just to even understand what their lawyer said. These end up being TLDR documents!

    Well...that's the point. Either put so much junk in writing that the reader loses focus and says "Wait, what were all those important parts from awhile ago?" or put so much in so people won't actually dare read it at all.
    Reply
  • velocityg4
    It's just funny that the UK of all countries is concerned about privacy. What with all the cameras, trucks that scan your home to see if you are watching TV without paying a tax, metal detectors in the streets, &c. They see 1984 as a guide book and lead the western world in squelching privacy.

    The NSA can only look with envy at what the UK has accomplished in public surveillance. Although Bush and Obama have done their darnedest to help us catch up.
    Reply
  • digiex
    Why so very afraid of privacy if you have nothing to hide.
    Reply
  • cozmium
    11108699 said:
    It's just funny that the UK of all countries is concerned about privacy. What with all the cameras, trucks that scan your home to see if you are watching TV without paying a tax

    You've been a bit taken in by the idea rather than the facts. The vans cannot detect TV usage at ALL - they just assume that everyone has a TV when they don't pay a licence. The 'dectetion' is based on EM leakage which basically any device can emit, and furthermore because they don't specifically want to divulge how they purport to detecting it, they can't/won't use it if it goes to court. It used to be possible to detect CRT because you can literally pick the the electron gun 'signal' and view the image remotely - not so with modern TV sets.

    I haven't paid a TV license in 20 years - sometimes they send a letter or come and say hello, but I just wish them well and see them on their way.
    Reply