Google fined €900,000 for breaching Spain’s Data Protection Act

Google has been fined €900,000 for breaches of Spain's Data Protection Act.

According to the AEPD, Spain's information watchdog, Google had "impeded" the exercise of its citizens' rights, after the ad giant controversially revised its terms and conditions for netizens in March 2012 even as a public outcry erupted in Europe.

An investigation from France's Commission Nationale de l'Informatique et des Libertés (CNIL) followed the move, on behalf of European Union's Article 29 Working Party - to determine whether Google had violated data laws.

The internet search giant was warned in September, by CNIL that it would face fines over its failure to comply with the French data regulator's orders to make changes to its privacy policy.

According to the AEPC's ruling, among other things, it had found that Google too often used "ambiguous expressions" in its Ts&Cs, leading to policy which was "indeterminate and unclear".

Google however, claims that it "respects" data protection law in the 28-member-state bloc. A Google spokesman told The Register this morning that the company would be reading the report closely to determine next steps.

The fine relates to three different breaches with penalties of €300,000 each, more fines are expected to follow.

The fine is the maximum permissible for a firm that has broken the nation's privacy laws.

After changing its privacy policy in March 2012 Google started the process of combining the data that people provided when they used its many services.

Google had collected information across almost 100 services, according to the Spanish data protection agency, but did not obtain consent of people to gather information not had it done enough to explain what would be done with the data.

According to Google, it had worked closely with the Spanish data agency during its investigation and said it would await publication of the full report before it initiated action.

According to commentators the company could also face further action from other European data protection bodies.

The Netherlands data protection authority in  late November, said Google's 2012 policy change also broke its laws. Meanwhile, France too is said to be contemplating levying a fine over the company's data handling policies.