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2/12/12

Google’s privacy policy challenged in US court

A US public interest group asked a federal court on Wednesday to block Google Inc from consolidating more than 60 of its privacy policies, saying it could make it easier for advertisers to target users.

A lawsuit by the Electronic Privacy Information Center (EPIC) alleged Google violated a settlement agreement reached with US regulators last March that requires consent from the user if Google collects information under one privacy policy and then changes the policy.

The group is asking the US District Court for the District of Columbia to issue a temporary restraining order and a preliminary injunction compelling the US Federal Trade Commission to enforce the consent order. “The Court must act now to prevent irreparable injury to EPIC and the public,” EPIC said in its court filing. EPIC’s lawsuit argues that Google misrepresented its privacy practices by not disclosing the benefits advertisers would reap from access to the consolidated data of users.

The aggregated data would allow advertisers to better target their ads, “and therefore Google’s new business practices increase the commercial value of a given user’s data,” the court filing said.

The group also challenged Google’s claim it is not collecting any new information. Aggregated data would give advertisers access to information about users that they were not privy to before, such as logged-in users’ YouTube search histories, EPIC said.


For more: Oman Tribune - the edge of knowledge

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