Search engine giant Google has defended itself after a report from the European Union (EU) questioned the company’s policy of keeping users’ search records for more than six months.

A report published earlier this week by the Article 29 Working Party committee questioned if Google was justified in keeping user identification data such as IP addresses for more than six months, and called for greater clarity from search engines in general regarding data collection practices.

“Search engines, in their role as collectors of user data, have so far insufficiently explained the nature and purpose of their operations to the users of their services," the report published earlier this week reads. “[We do] not see a basis for a retention period beyond six months.”

Full article: information-age.com 

Labels: Europe, policy, privacy

Appointment of former 'distinguished engineer' at IBM Research underlines Google's commitment to step up its European growth

Google has appointed a top IBM researcher to lead the expansion of its engineering group in Europe, the search company announced Thursday.

Nelson Mattos worked for 15 years at IBM and was most recently a vice president and "distinguished engineer" at IBM Research, where his projects included data management and search. He becomes Google's first ever vice president for engineering in Europe, responsible for managing project teams and hiring new engineers in the region.

Full article: infoworld.com 

Labels: engineer, Europe, IBM, research

Internet company Google Inc. has topped a poll of ideal employers in a survey of engineering and IT students across Europe published yesterday.

Nearly 17 per cent of the 8,100 engineering and information technology students polled from 100 European universities between January and April selected Google as their ideal place to work.

Swedish research firm Universum Communications, which has been polling European university students on their work ambitions since 1995, said it was a spectacular entrance for the Internet firm.

Read more: theglobeandmail.com 

Labels: Europe, poll, students

European group asks for an investigation into how Google's DoubleClick acquisition could affect privacy rights.

A European consumer group has complained that Google Inc.'s proposed acquisition of online ad broker DoubleClick Inc. could hurt privacy rights due to the massive amount of data the companies would hold.

In a letter, the Bureau Europien des Unions de Consommateurs (BEUC) has asked the European Commission and other authorities to investigate how the deal would affect consumers.

Full article: pcworld.com 

Labels: DoubleClick, Europe, privacy

The European Commission jumps on the web 2.0 bandwagon

The European Commission has launched its very own channel on YouTube to make its audiovisual content more widely available to the public.

EUTube contains video content ranging from documentaries covering the EU's activities and history to interviews with European commissioners.

Issues such as climate change, energy and immigration will all be covered by the content available on the channel.

Read more: silicon.com 

Labels: Europe, EUTube, Media, video, youtube

Google Inc. is gathering some of its top executives in Paris next week for an international press conference and speculation is rife that announcements will include a local version of YouTube for European countries.

France 24, a French public TV channel, confirmed Friday that it has been in talks with Google, suggesting the search giant may be lining up local content for its video-sharing service. Google's YouTube events calendar pegs Tuesday -- the day of the press conference -- for an unspecified "Paris launch."

A Google spokeswoman in France declined to comment on the France 24 talks or speculation about local versions of YouTube.

Full article: itworld.com 

Labels: Europe, France24, youtube

Google has agreed to change its policy on retaining server logs after inquiries from Europe's Article 29 Working Group. That group, which represents data privacy officers from many European countries, asked Google for more information about its privacy policies, and Norway wasn't keen on Google's plans, either. Google has responded by dropping the amount of time it hangs onto personalized logs to 18 months.

Read more: arstechnica.com 

Labels: Europe, files, privacy

While America prefers Yahoo!

A survey of internet usage across Europe reveals that Google is the region's most popular website in every country except Sweden and Norway.

The average European spent 24.1 hours online during the month of April. Most visited sites were Google, Microsoft, then Yahoo!. Russia's most visited sites were YANDEX.ru, MAIL.ru, and Rambler Media. Surfers in the US prefer Yahoo!, Time Warner Network, and Google.

Although Yahoo! only made the top three in three countries out of 16, it is still the third most popular site across Europe.

Read more: theregister.co.uk 

Labels: Europe, microsoft, Web, Yahoo

BERLIN: In the latest example of a U.S. technology giant potentially being called on the carpet in Europe, Google has been warned that it may be violating European Union privacy laws by storing data on its users for up to two years.

An advisory panel of data protection chiefs from the 27 EU countries sent a letter last week to the Internet search engine company asking Google to justify its policy of retaining data on Internet addresses and individual search habits, said Friso Roscam Abbing, a spokesman for European Union's justice commissioner, Franco Frattini.

Privacy experts said the letter was the first salvo in what could become a determined effort by the European Commission to force Google to change how it does business in the EU, whose 400 million consumers outnumber the U.S. population.

Any EU effort to impose limits on Google, which as a U.S.-based company operates under U.S. law, would be the latest in a series of aggressive actions taken by European policy makers to rein in global technology companies.

Frattini called the working group's query to Google "pertinent, appropriate and legitimate."

Full article: iht.com 

Labels: data, Europe, laws, privacy

MARK COLVIN: Google has filed a patent in Europe and the US for a program that could compile psychological profiles of people who play online games.

The Internet giant believes a player's online behaviour may give clues to their personalities and preferences, which advertisers could use to market their products.

But electronic privacy advocates say they fear that the plan is too intrusive, and players are worried it might litter their favourite games with unwanted ads.

Timothy McDonald reports.

Full article: abc.net.au 

Labels: advertisers, Europe, patent, us