Google is on course for another run-in with Brussels after data protection chiefs called on the search engine giant to halt is new privacy policy which will see it launch a raft of more personalised services and online ads.
The highly influential Article 29 Working Group – a group of national officials who advise the EU on data protection issues – has written to Google chief executive Larry Page, questioning the new approach.
The changes are designed to allow Google to deploy personal information of its hundreds of millions of users across its many services, from search and email to YouTube, and Google+.
And Google has refused to delay the March 1 launch, saying that “delaying the policy would cause significant confusion” and added that Article 29 has no legal powers to force it to halt the procedure.
A company statement said: “We briefed most of the members of the working party in the weeks leading up to our announcement. None of them expressed substantial concerns at the time.”
