EU Authorities To Demand Reversal of Google Privacy Policy

judgecorp writes "Google's privacy mechanism, which combines personal data from around 60 products, and gives users only one opportunity to opt out, was rolled out in March against requests from privacy regulators in Europe. Now they want the policy reversed, and user data from the different Google products, including Gmail, Search and YouTube, to be separated. The EU attack is lead by French regulator CNIL, which has historically taken a tough line on privacy matters."

Re:And I want a pony...

[Anonymous Coward]

Unlike Americans, Europeans are more worried about corporations spying on them than their governments.

Re:Seriously?

[kqs]

The obvious solution is just to turn off all personalization and feedback.

Indeed. Much like some people commit fraud on the stock market. The obvious solution is to turn off the stock market. Brilliant!

I'm not sure how google is forcing you to broadcast private stuff; I don't think they're forcing you to comment, are they? If you comment, and you know that the comment will be tagged with your real name, then there is no force, you just make a choice.

Re:French fight for our freedom?

[Anonymous Coward]

Keep in mind there is no strong IT industry in France, but many people dislike Google strongly here because they don't like the way new technology (which they see as "Google") forces them to adapt.

Make no mistake, the CNIL happily accepted the Hadopi law (three strikes and you're disconnected). It is NOT fighting for anybody's freedom. It's probably acting on someone's behalf, that someone being a group of interest which lobbied hard enough. (Yes, I'm writing this on an AZERTY keyboard).

Re:And I want a pony...

[Sique]

Unlike Americans, Europeans are worried about both corporations and the government spying on them. In Germany, Data Rendition laws are suspended for now, and in Austria, they didn't pass the parliament for now.

Re:French fight for our freedom?

[e70838]

I live in France, and I work into the IT field. I have the complete opposite feeling than the post above. The CNIL has always demonstrated a very deep understanding of technology. Even if it is a state agency, it has provided very sound analysis and opinions on the recent laws (HADOPI, ...) that were demonstrating the stupidity of the proposed laws. The laws were adopted almost unchanged and all the analysis of the CNIL have been proven to be true.

The CNIL is not very powerful and can not go beyond its scope, but I have never been deceived by anything it has produced.

The main root of the CNIL is the history of France during the 2nd world war where some files were used against jews.