A Google account is required to utilize a variety of Google’s goods and services.
A group of ten European consumer organizations is considering legal action against Google over the company’s account sign-up procedure.
However, the organization asserts that the registration procedure leads users toward alternatives that capture more data.
Google that it would welcome the chance to engage with consumer groups on the subject.
The corporation stated that consumer confidence was dependent on honesty and openness, and it had both “We placed our future success on developing ever-more-simple, user-friendly controls and providing people with clearer options.
Equally crucial is accomplishing more with fewer data.
Security by default
The European Consumer Organisation (BEUC), which coordinates the coalition, asserts that the terminology used by Google throughout the registration process is “unclear, incomplete, and deceptive,” causing many customers to choose less privacy-friendly alternatives.
BEUC says that “tens of millions of Europeans have been placed on a fast track to surveillance” as a result of signing up for a Google account.
The consumer organization feels that sign-up is the defining moment when Google asks customers to decide how their accounts will function.
It claims that the simplest one-step “express personalization” procedure leaves users with account settings that “fuel Google’s surveillance activities.”
And according to the consumer group, Google does not provide consumers with the opportunity to switch off all settings with a single click.
BEUC reports that it takes five clicks and ten steps to deactivate the trackers that Google wishes to activate on a new account. These trackers relate to the user’s online and app behavior, YouTube history, and personalized advertising.
Ursula Pachl, the BEUC’s deputy director-general, stated: “It only takes one simple step for Google to track and exploit your every move. If you want privacy-friendly settings, you must endure a lengthy procedure and a variety of imprecise and misleading options.
Ms. Pachl added: “When you register a Google account, you are, by design and by default, susceptible to surveillance. Privacy protection should be the default and most convenient option for consumers.”
The General Data Protection Regulation (GDPR) of the European Union mandates that platforms provide users with privacy by design and by default.
However, Google insists that all options are properly labeled and designed to be straightforward to comprehend.
According to the company, they are based on the considerable study, regulatory advice, and testing.
“People should be able to comprehend how their use of internet services generates data. They should be able to do something about it if they dislike it.”
BEUC members in the Czech Republic, Norway, Greece, France, and Slovenia have filed GDPR complaints against Google with their local data protection authorities, and groups in Sweden, Denmark, and the Netherlands have communicated their concerns to their authorities.
The German Federation of Consumer Organizations has given Google a warning letter.
A choice within months
A previous inquiry initiated by BEUC has made progress while this fresh action is launched.
Members of the BEUC filed a similar complaint against Google in 2018, arguing that the internet titan violated General Data Protection Regulation (GDPR) standards by tracking user whereabouts.
In July 2019, the Data Protection Commission of Ireland was designated as the primary authority for complaints.
The commission serves as the primary data protection authority for Google and several other technology businesses with European headquarters in Ireland.
In February 2020, it initiated an investigation into Google’s usage and gathering of location data.
But Ms. Pachl added, “Since we submitted complaints against Google’s location-tracking tactics more than three years ago, the Irish Data Protection Commissioner in charge has not yet delivered a ruling. Meanwhile, Google’s practices have not fundamentally changed.”
Graham Doyle, Ireland’s Deputy Data Protection Commissioner, told that “our inquiry into Google and location data is well-advanced” and that “we intend to transmit a draught judgment to our European Data Protection Authorities within the next couple of months”.
