Google’s controversial new privacy policy came into effect on 1 March 2012, despite concerns that the new policy might breach EU data protection legislation.

Google has said that the new policy, which replaces over 60 different policies previously in use across its many services, is “simple, clear and transparent” and “respects all European data protection laws”. It has responded to critics by arguing that “users continue to have choice and control”, for example, by turning off the search history and switching Gmail chat to the “off the record” status.

Much of the concern stems from the possibility that Google has indicated that it might “combine personal information from one service with information, including personal information, from other Google services”. Furthermore, users cannot opt out of the new policy if they wish to continue using Google’s services while logged in to their Google account.

The Article 29 Working Party, an independent European data protection supervisory body, has written to Google’s chief executive, Larry Page, highlighting its concerns with the new approach. The Chairman of the Article 29 body has asked the French data protection watchdog, CNIL, to lead an investigation into the new policy. Google has said that it will cooperate with the investigation, but refused to halt its 1 March implementation deadline on the basis that this would result in “significant confusion”.

These changes were implemented at a time when a draft EU Data Protection Regulation, published on 25 January 2012, proposes giving people a new “right to be forgotten”. This new right will enable people to ensure the deletion of their online data if there are no legitimate grounds for it being stored. View an article on the EU Draft Data Protection Regulation here.

Contributed by David Cullen.

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