Skip to main content

European regulators calling on Google to halt changes to its privacy policy

European regulators calling on Google to halt changes to its privacy policy

/

Add the European Union to the list of those taking issue with Google's new privacy policy: Reuters is reporting that the EU wants Google to delay the implementation of its new privacy policy so it can investigate whether users' data is sufficiently protected under the new rules.

Share this story

European Union Brussel Headquarters
European Union Brussel Headquarters

Add the European Union to the list of those taking issue with Google's new privacy policy: Reuters is reporting that the EU wants Google to delay the implementation of its new privacy policy so it can investigate whether users' data is sufficiently protected under the new rules. This request was made by the Article 29 Working Party, an independent group of data protection from the EU's 27 countries, plus the EU's executive European Commission (whose VP recently spoke out against SOPA), with France's data protection authority leading the proposed investigation. The EU's request is particularly timely, coming one week after the European Commission outlined its plans to revamp its 17-year-old data protection rules to more strongly protect private user information.

In its statement, the group said that it wishes to "check the possible consequences for the protection of the personal data of these citizens in a coordinated way" and that the group is calling for "a pause in the interests of ensuring that there can be no misunderstanding about Google's commitments to information rights of their users and EU citizens." Al Verny, Google's spokesperson in Brussels, noted that Google was a bit surprised by the request, since it briefed most members of the working party prior to the public announcement of its changes. However, the company is still "happy to speak with any data protection authority that has questions" — note that he didn't say Google was happy to delay its new policy, which is still scheduled to go into effect on March 1st.