By Joe Arico | Fri Jan 27, 2012 11:44 am |
House of Representatives members are questioning Google's policy to share user data across its online services, raising concerns of its use of consumer data.
The Mountain View, Calif.-based company said the change will make things simpler for consumers by providing better search results and a "more intuitive" experience across all its sites. However, eight lawmakers, including Republican Reps. Cliff Stearns of Florida and Joe Barton of Texas, and Democrats Edward Markey of Massachusetts and Henry Waxman of California, sent a letter raising their concerns to Google CEO Larry Page on Thursday."Google's announcement raises questions whether consumers can opt out of the new data sharing system either globally or on a product-by-product basis," said the letter to Google. "We believe that consumers should have the ability to opt out of data collection when they are not comfortable with a company's terms of service and that the ability to exercise that choice should be simple and straightforward." Google has until February 16 to respond to Congress' concerns, but the company has already reached out to ease any fears of consumers. The software giant said on its Public Policy Blog the changes do not mean it's collecting more data on its customers, and its users will still have an option to do things like turn off search history or "go incognito." If Google's response does not ease the government's worries about its new privacy policy, lawmakers will likely request the Federal Trade Commission initiate a probe of the changes. Google has faced privacy battles with regulators before, and Congress likely wants to set a precedent when it comes to user information and privacy concerns. With its broad reach, Google is a relevant target. The software giant has more than 350 million users on its Gmail service, about 90 million on Google+ and more than a billion using the Google search engine. Although the company claims its decision to share data does not weaken its user security, the government will likely investigate the change as much as possible due to the sheer number of people affected. Google said it felt it was being upfront by announcing the changes to its privacy policy for all its users, but lawmakers still want more answers from the company. If the software giant doesn't deliver, it may be forced to answer to the FTC.
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Fri Feb 17, 2012 3:58 pm | By
Google is challenging Apple's attempts to claim ownership of slide-to-unlock features, with a recently awarded patent that attempts to best its rival.
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Fri Feb 17, 2012 12:22 pm | By
Google may have tracked Apple's Safari users without their knowledge, raising questions on the search engine's attention to privacy.
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Thu Feb 16, 2012 3:47 pm | By
Apple gained an edge in its patent battle with Android devices after securing a ban on Motorola smartphones for a slide-to-unlock infringement.
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Tue Feb 14, 2012 12:42 pm | By
Google's Motorola purchase received U.S. approval, but government regulators will watch closely to prevent patent abuses, curtailing Google's new-found power.
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