Google privacy deal does not go far enough, say Dutch MPs

Measures by Google to give people around the world the option of keeping the names and locations of their home or business wi-fi routers out of its database do not go far enough, says a majority of MPs, BNR radio reports on Wednesday.


Google took the step ‘under pressure from privacy regulators in the Netherlands’, according to the New York Times.
Under the agreement, owners of wi-fi routers can add ‘_nomap’ to the end of a router’s name to tell Google they do not want its information included. But BNR says most MPs do not think this goes far enough because wi-fi owners themselves have to take action. Instead, MPs think Google should ask owners if they want to be included, BNR says.
Positive
However, Jacob Kohnstamm, the chairman of the Dutch privacy watchdog CBP, told the paper the agreement is a positive step for consumer privacy.
‘We all hope that with enforcement actions like these, the bigger firms will use privacy by design from the start so we don’t need to go into enforcement mode,’ Kohnstamm said.
Earlier this year, the CPB said it would fine Google up to €1m if it does not destroy private information gleaned from wireless internet routers in the Netherlands which it collected between 2008 and 2010.
In addition, the CBP ordered Google to tell the owners of the 3.6 million routers which it identified that they have been included in a data base and allow them to opt out.

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