The Guardian reports that privacy watchdogs from the UK, Germany and Italy found that the policy ‘violates commitment to transparency’, 15 months after California-based Google made sweeping changes to its privacy policy to unify data collection.

Complaints

The move is the latest in a spate of European complaint against the search engine company, which received similar complaints from groups in Spain and Italy last month.
Google was also heavily criticised over its collection of Wi-Fi data in Europe which was obtained while collecting pictures for its ‘Street View’ mapping system. The company’s latest creation, Google Glass, has also attracted the attention of privacy groups.

Privacy policy

The UK’s Information Commissioner's Office said that Google’s 2012 new privacy policy, raises ‘serious questions’ about compliance with the UK Data Protection Act, and has given Google until 20 September to recast it.
Google said in a statement: ‘Our privacy policy respects European law and allows us to create simpler, more effective services. We have engaged fully with the authorities involved throughout this process, and we'll continue to do so going forward.’