Google Urges Mix of Privacy Legislation, Self-Regulation
April 19, 2010
| 5:15 PM
Google Monday released comments it filed with the FTC last week on ways to enhance consumer privacy online as it finds its advertising practices and those of other online firms under increased scrutiny by privacy advocates.
In its comments, Google outlined its support for self-regulatory standards that provide transparency, user control and security. It also said it supports federal privacy legislation that would establish "baseline privacy protections" and also backs an overhaul of the law outlining government access to online records. In addition, Google said it would like to see the FTC take the lead in developing global privacy standards that are "comprehensive, flexible, and effective."
"The current patchwork of rules and enforcement across multiple jurisdictions does not provide adequate protection for consumers or sufficient certainty for companies offering services on the global Internet," Google Policy Counsel Will DeVries said in a blog post Monday.
Google has come under fire by some consumer advocates for failing to adequately protect user privacy when it launched its social networking service, Google Buzz. In addition, some groups have called on the FTC to do more to rein in online behavioral advertising by Google and many other online firms, which they is leading to a growing market in data on Internet users.
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