Google Inc : State AGs Target New Google Privacy Policy
02/22/2012 | 05:00pm
By John Letzing
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A group of dozens of state attorneys general have raised concerns with Google Inc. (GOOG) over the Internet giant's new privacy policy, marking the latest public flare-up over the planned changes.
In a letter addressed to Google Chief Executive Larry Page on Wednesday and signed by more than 30 attorneys general, the National Association of Attorneys General wrote that Google's new policy of consolidating privacy practices across products "is troubling for a number of reasons."
"On a fundamental level, the policy appears to invade consumer privacy by automatically sharing personal information consumers input into one Google product with all Google products," the group wrote.
That could be a problem because consumers may want to keep information about their Internet use confined to certain products, and away from others such as Google's Gmail service, the group wrote.
"The problem is compounded" for users of Google's Apps productivity software such as state and federal agencies, the group wrote, as they now may "need to spend taxpayer dollars determining how this change affects the security of their information and whether they need to switch."
In a statement a Google spokesman said that, "Our updated Privacy Policy will make our privacy practices easier to understand, and it reflects our desire to create a seamless experience for our signed-in users."
"We've undertaken the most extensive notification effort in Google's history," the statement continued, "and we're continuing to offer choice and control over how people use our services. Of course we are happy to discuss this approach with regulators globally."
Google announced last month that it would attempt to streamline privacy practices across its products by consolidating information from users signed in to their Google accounts.
The changes are intended to go into effect next month.
However, the changes have raised concern among some privacy advocates, regulators and lawmakers.
Late last month a group of U.S. lawmakers wrote to Page asking for further details on the new privacy policy, and asking whether it would leave users with enough control of their personal data.
Earlier this month, the chairman of the European Union's Article 29 Data Protection Working Party wrote to Page that the new privacy policy could hinder the protection of personal user data--and asked that implementation of the new policy be delayed.
Google has said that the new policy does not change users' existing privacy settings, and will not have Google collecting any additional user data.
The state attorneys general request to meet with Page over the new privacy policy "as soon as possible to work toward a solution."
-By John Letzing, Dow Jones Newswires; 415-765-8230; john.letzing@dowjones.com
