Google is receiving orders from the Data Protection Authorities in the United Kingdom, Germany, France and Spain, one after another. In these, the Internet giant is required by September 20, 2013 to clarify to users of its dozens of services exactly how their personal data are used, otherwise it will be compelled to do so as defined by European legislation in each EU member state.
A single privacy policy for all Google services has been in force since March 2012 - despite strong objections from independent privacy authorities in the European Union member states. After 15 months of thorough research by a working group established with the agreement of the authorities in the member states, the working group decided that Google should make it clearer to Europeans exactly how it uses and processes personal data from its different services.
The British commissioner of the ICO Authority explained to the Guardian newspaper that the September 20 ultimatum comes after an in-depth investigation, which went beyond reading and studying the terms of the single privacy policy that users sign. It examined what exactly they do with Google's data, products and services, the publication reports.
If Google does not comply with the Authority's request, then a court order will be issued and if it is proven in court that Google's unified privacy policy harmed users, it faces a fine of up to 500,000 lira, reports the Guardian.
Google has also received similar ultimatums from France and Spain. Earlier, in April, it was decided that France, Germany, Italy, the Netherlands, Spain and the United Kingdom would impose on Google what is provided for by the respective domestic legislation, which has incorporated the corresponding European directive. The announcement was made on April 2, 2013 by the CNIL.
What Google's unified privacy policy says about how it uses the data it collects:
We use the data we collect from all our services for providing, maintaining and improving them, for creating new services and for protecting Google and its users. We also use this data to offer you personalized content, such as more relevant search results and ads.
We may use the name you have entered in your Google Profile across all the services we offer that require a Google Account.
Additionally, we may replace previous names that are associated with your Google Account so that you are represented in the same way across all our services.
If other users already have your email address or other identifying details, we may show them the publicly available information from your Google Profile, such as your name and photo.
When you contact Google, we may record a file of your communication to help resolve any issues you may be experiencing. We may use your email address to inform you about our services, such as to notify you of upcoming changes or improvements.
We use the information we collect from cookies and other technologies, such as pixel tags, to improve your user experience and the overall quality of our services. For example, by storing your language preferences, we can display our services in your preferred language. When displaying personalized ads, Google will not associate a cookie or an anonymous identifier with sensitive categories, such as those related to race, religion, sexual orientation, or health data.
It may combine the personal data you have provided to us for a service with data, including personal data, from other Google services – for example, to facilitate sharing content with people you know. We will not combine DoubleClick cookie data with personal data that identifies you, unless you have consented to enable this option.
We will request your consent before we use the data for any purpose other than those specified in this Privacy Policy.
Google processes personal data on our servers in many countries worldwide. We may process your personal data on a server that is not located in the country where you reside.»
