The European Commission’s Article 29 Working Party, an independent body of data privacy regulators, asked Google to hold off on launching its new policies until after the committee could analyze the changes and how they would affect European Internet users.
The new policies, which Google announced in January, are set to go in place in March. They represent a simplification of Google’s privacy regulations, according to the company. Google has multiple platforms that harvest user data — Gmail accounts, its social network Google+, YouTube and personalized search history information, among others. The company plans to consolidate that information into a single policy.
Nothing Doing
Google replied Friday that it would not grant the “pause” authorities requested. Google informed users and regulators of the changes well before the scheduled implementation date, the company said, and when it spoke with European officials on Jan. 24, it did not receive any indication that there would be a problem with the policies.