Friday, September 4, 2009

FTC: Google Books Raises Privacy Fears

FTC Chairman Jon Leibowitz on Thursday expressed concern about Google's plan to digitize mass quantities of books, saying it "raises serious privacy challenges because of the vast amount of user information that could be collected." He said he was pleased that Google is taking steps to protect the privacy of Google Books users and noted that the Commission will have an ongoing dialogue with Google and others to ensure consumer privacy is protected when new technologies emerge. "As Google Books evolves we'll work to ensure that the privacy of online readers is fact, not fiction," he said in a statement.

Google recently told the FTC that users of Google Books are not and will not be required to have a Google account or register with Google to use most features although an account will be required to access books that a user has purchased. The application will also adhere to Google's existing privacy policy governing how it handles consumer data. Under that policy, Google only shares "personal information" when the consumer tells Google to do so or in certain other narrow circumstances. Google is also in the process of creating a specialized privacy policy specific to Google Books.

The House Judiciary Committee will hold a hearing to examine "competition and commerce in digital books" next Thursday and a New York federal court has scheduled a fairness hearing for Oct. 7 on the $125 million settlement Google reached in a feud with authors and publishers. The Open Book Alliance says Google's response to the FTC "essentially boils down to this - trust us." "We think it's too important to leave to blind faith that Google would do the right thing for consumers if the settlement is approved," said the group, whose members include Amazon.com, Microsoft, the Internet Archive, Yahoo and others.