cnil release and letter to google

8/2/2019 Cnil Release and Letter to Google

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Lettrer addressed to

Google on the 27-02...

Google’s new privacy policy raises deep concernsabout data protection and the respect of theEuropean law28 February 2012

The Article 29 Working Party invited the CNIL totake the lead in the analysis of Google’s newprivacy policy. Preliminary findings show thatGoogle’s new policy fails to meet the

requirements of the European Data ProtectionDirective (95/46/CE) regarding the informationthat must be provided to data subjects.

Moreover, the CNIL and the EU data protection authorities are deeplyconcerned about the combination of data across services and will continuetheir investigations with Google’s representatives. The CNIL reiterated itsrequest to Google to postpone the application of the new policy, on behalf of the Article 29 Working Party.

The Article 29 Working Party invited the CNIL to take the lead in the analysis of Google’s new privacy policy. Preliminary findings show that Google’s new policyfails to meet the requirements of the European Data Protection Directive (95/46/CE)regarding the information that must be provided to data subjects. Moreover, theCNIL and the EU data protection authorities are deeply concerned about thecombination of data across services and will continue their investigations withGoogle’s representatives. The CNIL reiterated its request to Google to postpone theapplication of the new policy, on behalf of the Article 29 Working Party.

By letter of 2 February 2012, the Article 29 Working Party invited the CNIL to takethe lead in the analysis of the announcement by Google of a new privacy policy thatwill be effective on 1 March 2012.The CNIL and the EU data protection authorities regret that Google did not acceptto delay the application of this new policy which raises legitimate concerns about theprotection of the personal data of European citizens.While the CNIL and the EU data protection authorities welcome Google’s initiative tostreamline and simplify its privacy policies, they firmly believe that this effort shouldnot be conducted at the expense of transparency and comprehensiveness. Bymerging the privacy policies of its services, Google makes it impossible tounderstand which purposes, personal data, recipients or access rights are relevantto the use of a specific service. As such, Google’s new policy fails to meet the

requirements of the European Data Protection Directive (95/46/CE) regarding theinformation that must be provided to data subjects. Google should supplementexisting information with processing- and purpose-specific information.

Moreover, rather than promoting transparency, the terms of the new policy and thefact that Google claims it will combine data across services raise fears andquestions about Google’s actual practices. Under the new policy, users understandthat Google will be able to track and combine a large part of their online activitiesthanks to products such as Android, Analytics or its advertising services. For instance, the new policy would allow Google to display on Youtube ads that arerelated to the user’s activity on its Android phone (personal number, calling partynumbers, date and time of calls) and to its location data. The impact on privacy and

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about data protection and the respect of the European law

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2/29/2012http://www.cnil.fr/english/news-and-events/news/article/googles-new-privacy-policy-raise...



data protection is all the more important, given that Google represents more than80% of the European search engine market, around 30% of the Europeansmartphones market, 40% of the global online video market and more than 40% of the global online advertisement market; Google Analytics is also the most popular analytics tool in Europe. In addition, the use of cookies (among other tools) for thesecombinations raises issues related to Google’s compliance to the principle of

consent laid down in the revised ePrivacy Directive (2002/58/CE).The CNIL and the EU data protection authorities are deeply concerned about the

combination of data across services and have strong doubts about the lawfulnessand fairness of such processing. They intend to address these questions in detailwith Google’s representatives.

As a preliminary step, the CNIL has sent a letter to Google exposing theseconcerns. Considering the preliminary findings of the investigation, the CNILreiterated the request to Google to postpone the application of the new policy, onbehalf of the Article 29 Working Party.

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2/29/2012http://www.cnil.fr/english/news-and-events/news/article/googles-new-privacy-policy-raise...

cnil release and letter to google

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