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Google privacy row

By Benjamin Cohen

Updated on 21 June 2007

Channel 4 News has learned that Google could be forced to carry a cigarette box style warning about privacy on its website.

You can make money without doing evil - it's Google's famous mission statement. But the world's biggest search engine is the focus of mounting concern over the growing scope of its power.

We went to the London Googleplex. It's to here that tens of millions of us turn every day to have our questions answered, find directions, communicate with friends and be entertained online. In fact, Google increasingly controls almost every aspect of our digital lives.


"But the reality is people do trust us and continue to use the service."
- Dennis Woodside, Google Managing Director

It's all about advertising. When you first visit Google's website, they place a small file on your computer called a cookie. This allows them recognise you and track every subsequent search made- the sites you visit, where you shop, and what you read. It's like digital DNA which Google uses to display relevant adverts and search results tailored to an individual.

Google's managing director in the UK says that its simply about improving our user experience.

"There's a difference between perception and a lot of the reality. If people felt the same way that has been written I think they would stop using Google, they wouldn't trust us. But the reality is people do trust us and continue to use the service." - Dennis Woodside, Google Managing Director


"No data that can be linked to an individual user - should be kept stored - unless the user has given his explicit informed consent."

But, an independent panel mandated by the European Commission is investigating whether the company and its rivals are breaking the law, failing to comply with European privacy regulations.

In a letter last month they told Google:

"No data that can be linked to an individual user - should be kept stored - unless the user has given his explicit informed consent."

(Letter to Peter Fleisher, Google from Peter Schaar, Chairman Article 29 Data Protection Working Party)

In fact, there is no direct link to the company's privacy policy on the Google Homepage. Channel 4 News has learned that Google may be required to put up a cigarette box style privacy warning, telling users what information it collects, what it will be used for and how long it will be stored.

The company has committed to improving its privacy practices and already agreed to reduce the time it holds personal information from two years to 18 months.

"It's obviously something that we take very seriously. Things like privacy and things like freedom of information.

"We have a growing recognition of our responsibility to our users and to the community because we are a leading player on the internet and because five years ago the internet wasn't as important in people's lives. Now it is." - Dennis Woodside

Google's biggest rival Yahoo has 600 staff in its London offices. Nearly all of them are selling adverts. They too have amassed a vast database of personal information about their users and will also be affected by the European Commission inquiry, which was today broadened across the whole industry.

So, how worried should we be about search engines holding information about us?

Government regulators on both sides of the Atlantic are increasingly concerned about privacy. Google - and its competitors - could be required to give explicit warnings about the data they hold on us and keep it for less time.

The really worry for civil libertarians could be that the security services want access to this information too.

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