In what seems to be an ongoing battle against Google in Europe, there has been another attack. This time, Germany is demanding that Google change what they do with the personal data they collect across Google platforms.
According to Johannes Casper, who heads the data protection office for the German state of Hamburg, “By compiling data from its different services under a single user ID, Google has access to an in-depth personal profile of its users. Google has to respect its users’ right to self-determination.”
According to reports, the agency is planning on ordering Google to adjust their data-handling practices sometime in the next few weeks. Google is already in discussions with the agency, attempting to minimize any impact at this point, and trying to come up with an agreement that both Google and the German agency can live with.
Over the past couple of years, Google has faced legal challenges from government agencies from France, Italy, the Netherlands, Spain, the UK and now Germany. While these legal battles have undoubtedly cost Google a lot in terms of time and effort, they have been fairly minimal in terms of total fines they have had to pay (when compared to the company’s worth). The largest privacy related fine thus far was paid to Italy, and was only one million Euros.
At this point, Germany has not filed any official lawsuit in the matter, and it seems they are hoping to get Google to adjust the way they use data without having to go to the courts.
