Fast track to surveillance: European regulators to Google

Alphabet Inc.’s flagship company Google is facing flak from European consumer groups who say that the search engine puts users on a “fast track to surveillance” when they sign up to an account.

Google might be violating some of the European Union’s privacy laws by adding them to a system that consumer organisation BEUC calls “monitored and exploited by the digital behemoth.” The organisation is curently in the process of coordinating actions by 10 different national groups against the search behemoth. 

BEUC called Google’s sign-up process a process “designed to get consumers to allow an extensive and invasive processing of their data” through their use of “deceptive design, unclear language, misleading choices and missing information.”

The consumer organisation said that the member states of Greece, France, Slovenia, Norway and Czechoslovakia had filed filed complaints with their local regulatory authorities.

A German organisation is preparing for a potential lawsuit by sending Google a warning. 

Members of the European Union have access to the General Data Protection Regulation, which empowers countries’ regulators to levy heavy fines on tech companies, even as much as 4% of their annual revenue. When the regulation was passed, Ireland’s regulators turned their attention to some of the Big Tech companies based out of the US, which have bases in the EU. National authorities retain some control over cases which it feels affects consumers. 

In an emailed statement to Bloomberg, Google said that it was now presenting new account makers with different options in an attempt to help people “make choices on their terms.” It went on to say that these options are “clearly labelled” and “simple to understand.”

The BEUC said the complaints are based on instances where users are being forced to create a Google account in order to continue having access to services, such as with their Android-based smartphones.