Google has been slapped with a fine for breaking Spanish data protection laws with its privacy policy.
The Spanish Data Protection Agency (AEPD) said that Google does not provide enough details about its data collection, and imposed a €900,000 ($1.23M) punishment.
That's $400,000 each for three separate violations of the Organic Act on Data Protection (LOPD) — collecting information, sharing data, and not properly informing users. The AEPD called Google's privacy rules "indeterminate and unclear."
A new Google privacy policy went into effect on March 1, 2012. It consolidated about 70 cross-site guidelines into one, but also switched to one profile for users across all services, rather separate logins for applications like YouTube, Search, and Blogger. It's that account consolidation bit that has privacy advocates up in arms.
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A Google spokeswoman told PCMag that the company will be examining the Spanish watchdog's report to determine next steps.
"We've engaged fully with the Spanish DPA throughout this process to explain our privacy policy and how it allows us to create simpler, more effective services, and we'll continue to do so," she said in a statement.
Dutch and French officials have also spoken out against Google's practices. Late last month, the Dutch Data Protection Authority (DPA) accused the search giant of not adequately informing users about which personal data it collects and combines, and for what purpose.
Source : PCMag.com
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