* EU data watchdogs promise action by summer
* Say Google didn’t respond to October request for changes
* Google says privacy policy is lawful
By Claire Davenport
BRUSSELS, Feb 18 (Reuters) – European data watchdogs said on
Monday they plan to take action against Google by this
summer for its privacy policy, which allows the search engine to
pool user data from across all its services ranging from YouTube
to Gmail.
The move is the latest in a skirmish between the web giant
and Europe’s data protection regulators who view the privacy
rules put in place in March by Google as “high risk,” although
have stopped short of declaring them illegal.
Regulators view the bundling of data on users as potentially
constituting a high risk to individuals’ privacy.
Google last year consolidated 60 privacy policies into one,
combining data collected on individual users across its
services, including YouTube, Gmail and social network Google+.
Users cannot opt out.
In October, Europe’s 27 data regulators gave Google four
months to change its approach, listing 12 “practical
recommendations” for it to bring its privacy policy into line.
On Monday the French privacy regulator, which last year led
an initial inquiry into the tech giant’s new policy, said it
would set up a further inquiry because Google had not yet
addressed their concerns.
“Google did not provide any precise and effective answers,”
the French regulator CNIL said.
“In this context, the EU data protection authorities are
committed to act and continue their investigations. Therefore,
they propose to set up a working group, led by the CNIL, in
order to coordinate their reaction, which should take place
before summer.”
Google said it did respond to CNIL on January 8 by listing
steps already taken to address their concerns.
“We have engaged fully with CNIL throughout the process and
will continue to do so,” Al Verney, a spokesperson said.
He added that the privacy policy did respect European law.
The pooling of anonymous user data across Google services,
is a big advantage when selling online ads.
Google and other large internet groups such as Facebook
provide free services to consumers and earn money from selling
ads that they say are more closely targeted than traditional TV
or radio campaigns.
