Google French search page to carry fine notice
10 Feb 2014
France's top administrative court has ruled that Google must carry a notice on its google.fr French search page saying it had been fined by the local data-protection watchdog over how user information was tracked and store.
The US search engine said it would fall in line with the order, but would continue to fight the €150,000 ($228,147) fine imposed last month by privacy watchdog CNIL.
CNIL took objection to the search company's method of combining data collected on individual users from services including, YouTube, Gmail and social network Google+.
The company introduced the broad storage initiative in March 2012 and combined 60 privacy policies into one, leaving no way for users to opt out.
The web giant appealed the CNIL's fine last month and the order to post a notice of the sanction on its google.fr homepage for 48 hours. The company specifically asked the Conseil d'Etat, France's top administrative court, to suspend that order while it re-examined the case.
The Conseil d'Etat on Friday, ruled that there was not enough urgency nor proof of damage to Google's reputation to warrant a suspension of the kind, meaning Google would need to post the CNIL's decision on its French homepage even as it kept fighting it in court.
"We've engaged fully with the CNIL throughout this process to explain our privacy policy and how it allows us to create simpler, more effective services," a Google spokesman said in an e-mailed statement.
The company's universal privacy policy was designed to address how the company used and shared user data across its various platforms.
A coordinated action by European regulators from various countries found that the new privacy policy violated European privacy law, and even as Google agreed to make changes; it apparently did not.
Various countries had to take it up among themselves to haul up the company before the courts over violation of their individual data protection laws.
