The battle between the U.S. search engine giant, Google Inc (NASDAQ:GOOG) and EU data protection watchdogs continues to intensify. On Monday, European protection agencies said that this summer they plan to take “a coordinated repressive action” against Google Inc (NASDAQ:GOOG) for its controversial privacy policies.
European privacy authorities plan to curb Google’s collection, combination, and the storage of its users’ personal information; the authorities have said that the web search giant has ignored their orders to amend its privacy policy and provide necessary insight to EU privacy watchdogs.
Last January, the web search giant combined 60 its products’ privacy policies into a consolidated privacy document that many user complained about.
After investigating the new policy for several months, 27 of the 29 countries’ regulators, led by CNIL, in October, gave Google four months to change its approach. They listed 12 “practical recommendations” for Google Inc (NASDAQ:GOOG) to bring its privacy policy into line.
“After a four-month deadline that was granted to Google Inc. (NASDAQ:GOOG) in order to comply with the European data protection regulation and to implement effectively [A29WP] recommendations, no answer has been given,” CNIL said .
CNIL president Isabelle Falque-Pierrotin said she expected Google to make a commitment to change its policy “within three or four months,” failing which she expected that a number of national data protection authorities would take action.
“European data protection authorities have noted that Google Inc (NASDAQ:GOOG) did not provide any precise and effective answers to their recommendations,” said CNIL, the French watchdog that led the probe and represents EU regulators on the Google case.
In its defense, Google Inc (NASDAQ:GOOG) claimed that the company had been engaged fully with CNIL throughout the process and it did resond to CNIL on January 8 by listing steps to address the concerns raised by the French privacy regulator.
“We have engaged fully with CNIL throughout the process and will continue to do so,” Al Verney, a spokesperson from Google said. “Our privacy policy respects European law and allows us to create simpler, more effective services,”
