Google's privacy efforts under fire in Europe

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Google's privacy efforts under fire in Europe

This November 1, 2018 photo shows the Alphabet Inc logo at their offices in Granary Square, London. A French consumer group and its peers have been targeted by the ALASTAIR GRANT AP BRUSSELS Alphabet unit Google over its complaints to privacy watchdogs over its vast trove of users' personal data harvested via their Google accounts, European consumer organization BEUC said on Thursday.

Other countries in Greece, the Czech Republic, Norway and Slovenia have taken their gripes with their data protection authorities, as well as the French consumer group, according to the BEUC.

Consumer agencies in the Netherlands, Denmark and Sweden have written to their privacy regulators about Google's practices, while the German consumer body has sent a warning letter to Google that could lead to a civil lawsuit.

The issue was caused by Google's account sign-up process, according to BEUC.

The language that Google uses at every step of the registration process is unclear, incomplete, and misleading, the group said.

Google frames privacy-friendly options as missing out on advantages. It said that this prevents consumers from making informed decisions when they make their choices and results in unfair, non-transparent and unlawful processing of their personal data.

In previous privacy complaints, Google has said users can edit, delete or pause settings and make clear to users that it collects their data to improve their services.

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If found guilty of breaching EU privacy rules, Google could face fines up to 2 percent of its global turnover if it is sacked by EU antitrust regulators and the focus of two ongoing antitrust investigations.

Some agencies complained about Google's tracking of users to their privacy enforcers four years ago, but have yet to see any action taken. They want to increase the pressure on regulators with the latest complaints.