Netherlands: regulators require Google to alter privacy data policy

The College for the Protection of Personal Data has set Google the deadline for the end of February, 2015 to comply with measures aimed at giving consumers in the Netherlands more clarity about how their personal information is used across the suite of Google services.

Jacob Kohnstamm, chairman of the organization, said Googles practice of combining data from different services to tailor ads and personalize services like YouTube, creates an invisible web of user personal information, without previous request from users.

The authority said Google must clearly inform and ask users for permission to combine personal data from the companys different services and further amend its privacy policy. Data Protection Agencies (DPAs) in six European countries, including the Netherlands, opened investigations into Google after it amended its privacy policy early in 2012.