EU tells Google to delay rollout of new privacy policy

The European Union (EU) has asked Google to delay the roll out its new privacy policy that will further integrate user's personal information across all of its services, while regulators investigate the implications for personal data protection.

The move from the EU's data protection authorities comes after the internet giant hadinformed its more than 350 million account holders  late last month that it would combine about 60 privacy policies for separate products to create a simple system for users in line with the needs of regulators.

Since then, Google has gone on a massive campaign informing its users of the new policy, which is set to come into force on 1 March.

According to Google's director of privacy for product and engineering, Alma Whitten, the new privacy policy means, ''we'll treat you as a single user across all our products, which will mean a simpler, more intuitive Google experience,'' which according to critics, would make it easier for the company to target ads at users.

The new policy will allow Google to combine the data of a user using different services such as its search engine, YouTube or Gmail and create a broader single profile of that user, which will make Google to target advertising based on that user's interests and search history more precisely.

Google's new policy could affect users in the EU, where Google's search engine holds a more than 90 per cent of the market share.