Google Is Asked to Change Privacy Policy to Protect Data
Google Is Asked to Change Privacy Policy to Protect Data
BERLIN — Regulators in Europe, Canada and Asia asked Google on Tuesday to change aspects of its 10-month-old global privacy policy, which combines data on individuals from its range of online services, to better protect personal data.
The unusual multilateral request was made by the French regulator, CNIL, the National Commission for Computing and Civil Liberties, at a news conference in Paris. The French agency was asked earlier this year to analyze the legality of Google’s new data policies by the European Commission’s top privacy panel, the Article 29 Working Group.
The French agency found several areas where Google’s combination of data from services such as YouTube, its Android mobile operating system and the Google search engine could compromise personal data. Its recommendations were endorsed in a letter sent to Google by Jacob Kohnstamm, the chairman of the Article 29 panel.
Mr. Kohnstamm said by telephone that privacy regulators in all 27 European Union countries, plus Canada and some countries in Asia, had signed the letter, which outlines areas for changes to improve protection of personal data.
Mr. Kohnstamm had asked Google in a letter Feb. 2 to postpone its new privacy policy so European regulators could investigate its effects on privacy. But Google declined.