Article 29 Working Group Googles Google

The Article 29 Working Group, a group consisting of the enforcers of data protection laws across the European Union, has requested that Google provide it with information about its information retention policies. Google will respond to the request in June 2007. Google is going to make the response publicly available so expect next month to be a big month for discussion of Google's policies.

This news comes from a front-page report in the Independent today about the new database that Google is developing. The database will apparently allow users to make much more personal searches - such as "what job shall I take" - because of a combination of clever algorithms and the personal data that Google has collected about its users. Google's use of the personal data it collects from users is raising concerns with privacy campaigners.

IMPACT comment
From what we know so far, the Article 29 Working Group request is not connected to Google's planned new database, so it would be misleading to say that the Group is concerned about that database. The data protection authorities can request information about data protection policies from any organisation that deals with personal data (these days, there are few organisations that don't) and so we shouldn't make too much of the fact that Google has received this request. Of course, the contents of Google's response may lead to concerns and further questions, but let's wait and see. The fact that the request is effectively from all the EU data protection authorities demonstrates good sense on the part of these authorities - each has a different jurisdiction whilst Google can be used by all.

These sorts of stories always raise concerns about Google taking over the world, and people ask "what can I do to stop Google collecting my data?" Another section of the paper-edition of the Independent today asks this question and suggests a few technological methods of stopping Google collecting data, such as using software that hides your IP address (the address that identifies your internet connection) or deletes/prevents cookies.

If you are genuinely concerned about Google collecting your personal data, or being over-powerful, there are however more obvious things to do than employing technological measures. Google isn't the internet and isn't the only search engine out there. Give another search engine a go. One that recently launched (the name escapes me) even did so on the basis that it did not collect personal data about its users.

Comments

[Andrew Mills]

Of course, it's easy to think that collection of person data by itself is a *bad* thing. This isn't always the case and everyone had different views. Certainly, my understanding of searching technology and where it's going means that if you want the best possible search results for *you* then the search service needs to be able to analyse what you search for and what results you click on so as to try and figure what is important to you. This then feedback back into search results in the future. This type of stuff is going to make web searching even more targeted but the price to pay may be disclosing personal data to the search service.