German Regulator Orders Google To Limit User Data Harvesting Without Permission

[engine]

Google Inc. (GOOG) was ordered by a German regulator to limit how it combines user data that could be used to find out customers’ personal preferences, including marital status or sexual orientation.

The operator of the biggest Internet search engine was ordered to modify its privacy policies so users have the ability to determine how their data is used, Johannes Caspar, Hamburg’s privacy watchdog, said in an e-mailed statement today. The terms of Google’s 2012 privacy policy allow the Mountain View, California-based company to combine data it retrieves when customers use various services, including Gmail, Caspar said. German Regulator Orders Google To Limit User Data Harvesting Without Permission [bloomberg.com]

[superclown2]

This has the potential to destroy Google's business model. I can't imagine that they'll just lie down and accept this.

[engine]

I wonder if FB will get away without the same scrutiny on this.

[superclown2]

I wonder if FB will get away without the same scrutiny on this.

In the long run I very much doubt it. There is a lot of anti-American big business sentiment being whipped up over here by politicians looking for pre-election easy targets.