{"id":6955,"date":"2022-07-01T07:17:05","date_gmt":"2022-07-01T07:17:05","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/sierra-leone\/all-news\/google-sign-up-a-fast-track-to-surveillance-consumer-groups-say"},"modified":"2022-07-01T07:43:42","modified_gmt":"2022-07-01T07:43:42","slug":"google-sign-up-a-fast-track-to-surveillance-consumer-groups-say","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/sierra-leone\/all-news\/google-sign-up-a-fast-track-to-surveillance-consumer-groups-say","title":{"rendered":"Google sign-up a \u2018fast track to surveillance\u2019, consumer groups say"},"content":{"rendered":"

Africa-Press – Sierra-Leone. <\/strong><\/span>Google is facing action from a coalition of ten European consumer organisations over the company\u2019s account sign-up process.<\/p>\n

A Google account is essential in order to use a number of its products and services.<\/p>\n

But the coalition alleges the sign-up process steers users toward options which collect more data.<\/p>\n

Google told the BBC it welcomed the opportunity to engage with consumer advocates on the topic.<\/p>\n

The company said that consumer trust depended on honesty and transparency and it had \u201cstaked our future success on building ever simpler, more accessible controls and giving people clearer choices.<\/p>\n

\u201cAnd, just as important, doing more with less data\u201d.<\/p>\n

The European Consumer Organisation (BEUC), which co-ordinates the coalition, claims the language Google uses in the registration process is \u201cunclear, incomplete, and misleading\u201d leading many consumers to pick options that are less privacy-friendly.<\/p>\n

As a result \u201ctens of millions of Europeans have been placed on a fast track to surveillance when they signed up to a Google account\u201d BEUC claims.<\/p>\n

The consumer organisation believes sign-up is the critical point at which Google asks users to choose how their account will operate.<\/p>\n

But the simplest one step \u201cexpress personalisation\u201d process, it alleges, leaves consumers with account settings that \u201cfeed Google\u2019s surveillance activities\u201d.<\/p>\n

And the consumer organisation says Google does not provide users with the option to turn all settings \u2018off\u2019 in one click.<\/p>\n

Instead, BEUC says, it takes five clicks and ten steps to turn off the trackers Google wants to activate on a new account \u2013 these relate to web and app activity, YouTube history and personalised advertising on their account.<\/p>\n

Ursula Pachl, deputy director general of the BEUC, said: \u201cIt takes one simple step to let Google monitor and exploit everything you do. If you want to benefit from privacy-friendly settings, you must navigate through a longer process and a mix of unclear and misleading options.<\/p>\n

Ms Pachl added: \u201cIn short, when you create a Google account, you are subjected to surveillance by design and by default. Instead, privacy protection should be the default and easiest choice for consumers.\u201d<\/p>\n

The EU\u2019s General Data Protection Regulation (GDPR) requires platforms to give users privacy by design and by default.<\/p>\n

But Google maintains that all options are clearly labelled and designed to be clear and simple to understand.<\/p>\n

They are based the company says on extensive research, guidance from regulators and testing.<\/p>\n

It told the BBC \u201cPeople should be able to understand how data is generated from their use of internet services. If they don\u2019t like it, they should be able to do something about it.\u201d<\/p>\n

BEUC members in the Czech Republic, Norway, Greece, France and Slovenia have filed GDPR complaints against Google with their respective data protection authorities, and groups in Sweden, Denmark and the Netherlands have written to their own authorities about the concerns.<\/p>\n

The Federation of German Consumer Organisations has sent a warning letter to Google.<\/p>\n

As this latest action launches, the BBC has been told that a previous investigation prompted by BEUC has made progress.<\/p>\n

In 2018 Members of the BEUC filed a similar complaint against Google alleging the tech giant breached General Data Protection Regulation (GDPR) requirements through user location tracking.<\/p>\n

The Ireland\u2019s Data Protection Commission was appointed the lead authority on the complaints in July 2019.<\/p>\n

The commission is lead data protection authority for Google and numerous other tech companies with European headquarters in Ireland.<\/p>\n

It launched an inquiry into Google\u2019s use and collection of location data in February 2020.<\/p>\n

But Ms Pachl said, \u201cit is more than three years since we filed complaints against Google\u2019s location-tracking practices and the Irish Data Protection Commissioner in charge has still not issued a decision on the case. Meanwhile Google\u2019s practices have not changed in essence.\u201d<\/p>\n

However Graham Doyle Ireland\u2019s Deputy Data Protection Commissioner told the BBC that \u201cour investigation into Google and location data is well progressed and we expect to send a draft decision to our colleague Data Protection Authorities in the next couple of months for their views\u201d.<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

For More News And Analysis About Sierra-Leone<\/a> Follow Africa-Press<\/a><\/strong><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Africa-Press – Sierra-Leone. Google is facing action from a coalition of ten European consumer organisations over the company\u2019s account sign-up process. A Google account is essential in order to use a number of its products and services. But the coalition alleges the sign-up process steers users toward options which collect more data. Google told the […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":84,"featured_media":6954,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[2,8,9],"tags":[291,293,292],"class_list":["post-6955","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-all-news","category-homepage-english","category-miscellaneous","tag-africa-press","tag-africa-press-sierra-leone","tag-sierra-leone"],"yoast_head":"\nGoogle sign-up a \u2018fast track to surveillance\u2019, consumer groups say - Sierra Leone<\/title>\n<meta name=\"description\" content=\"Google is facing action from a coalition of ten European consumer organisations over the company\u2019s account sign-up proce ...\" \/>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/sierra-leone\/all-news\/google-sign-up-a-fast-track-to-surveillance-consumer-groups-say\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"Google sign-up a \u2018fast track to surveillance\u2019, consumer groups say\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"Google is facing action from a coalition of ten European consumer organisations over the company\u2019s account sign-up proce ...\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:url\" content=\"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/sierra-leone\/all-news\/google-sign-up-a-fast-track-to-surveillance-consumer-groups-say\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:site_name\" content=\"Sierra Leone\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:publisher\" content=\"https:\/\/www.facebook.com\/AfricaPressTunisiaa\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:published_time\" content=\"2022-07-01T07:17:05+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:modified_time\" content=\"2022-07-01T07:43:42+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:image\" content=\"https:\/\/static.africa-press.net\/sierra-leone\/sites\/16\/2022\/07\/postQueueImg_1.jpg\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:width\" content=\"976\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:height\" content=\"549\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:type\" content=\"image\/jpeg\" \/>\n<meta name=\"author\" content=\"cfeditoren\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:card\" content=\"summary_large_image\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:label1\" content=\"Written by\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data1\" content=\"cfeditoren\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:label2\" content=\"Est. reading time\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data2\" content=\"3 minutes\" \/>\n<script type=\"application\/ld+json\" class=\"yoast-schema-graph\">{\"@context\":\"https:\/\/schema.org\",\"@graph\":[{\"@type\":\"Article\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/sierra-leone\/all-news\/google-sign-up-a-fast-track-to-surveillance-consumer-groups-say#article\",\"isPartOf\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/sierra-leone\/all-news\/google-sign-up-a-fast-track-to-surveillance-consumer-groups-say\"},\"author\":{\"name\":\"cfeditoren\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/sierra-leone\/#\/schema\/person\/068c7ab4e9634ae78ec5d54ec46598bb\"},\"headline\":\"Google sign-up a \u2018fast track to surveillance\u2019, consumer groups say\",\"datePublished\":\"2022-07-01T07:17:05+00:00\",\"dateModified\":\"2022-07-01T07:43:42+00:00\",\"mainEntityOfPage\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/sierra-leone\/all-news\/google-sign-up-a-fast-track-to-surveillance-consumer-groups-say\"},\"wordCount\":694,\"commentCount\":0,\"image\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/sierra-leone\/all-news\/google-sign-up-a-fast-track-to-surveillance-consumer-groups-say#primaryimage\"},\"thumbnailUrl\":\"https:\/\/static.africa-press.net\/sierra-leone\/sites\/16\/2022\/07\/postQueueImg_1.jpg\",\"keywords\":[\"Africa Press\",\"Africa Press-Sierra-Leone\",\"Sierra-Leone\"],\"articleSection\":[\"all news\",\"homepage-english\",\"miscellaneous\"],\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"CommentAction\",\"name\":\"Comment\",\"target\":[\"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/sierra-leone\/all-news\/google-sign-up-a-fast-track-to-surveillance-consumer-groups-say#respond\"]}]},{\"@type\":\"WebPage\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/sierra-leone\/all-news\/google-sign-up-a-fast-track-to-surveillance-consumer-groups-say\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/sierra-leone\/all-news\/google-sign-up-a-fast-track-to-surveillance-consumer-groups-say\",\"name\":\"Google sign-up a \u2018fast track to surveillance\u2019, consumer groups say - 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