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EU claims new Google privacy policy breaks European law

EU claims new Google privacy policy breaks European law

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The EU has stated the Google's new privacy policy breaches European law.

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Thanks for trying Google Chrome! (1020)
Thanks for trying Google Chrome! (1020)

The European Union launched a France-led investigation into Google's new privacy policy in February, and now that the policy has rolled out EU justice commissioner Viviane Reding says it breaches the union's law. Reding told the BBC that "the new rules are not in accordance with the European law, and that the transparency rules have not been applied," adding that another issue is that "nobody had been consulted" about the changes. Google responded indirectly on its official blog, stating that the policy — which consolidates 60 different privacy policies for various Google products into one — actually makes things clearer and simpler.

Google also explained that the company has "undertaken the most extensive user education campaign in our history" to inform users of the privacy changes, though Reding believes that those efforts have not been enough. She said that 80 percent of citizens in the UK, for example, are concerned about the new conditions, while privacy group Big Brother Watch stated that only 47 percent of those citizens are aware of the agreement and just 12 percent have actually read it. Despite requests to delay the changes, Google's new policy has been put in place today. While the EU hasn't announced its plans for dealing with the policy, France's National Commission for Computing and Civil Liberties will be sending Google a questionnaire early this month to provide further clarification on the changes.