Ten consumer groups anxious on Google's misleading signup procedure

Ten consumer groups anxious on Google's misleading signup procedure

Ten consumer organisations from Europe filed new privacy complaints against Google, alleging that the company encourages more broad and intrusive data processing by utilising misleading choices, imprecise wording, and deceptive design when customers sign up for Google accounts.

Consumer groups coordinated by the European Consumer Organisation argue that, despite what the internet giant claims, it is impeding customers' efforts to better protect their privacy (BEUC).

On potential violations of the EU's General Data Protection Regulation, they are now pursuing action (GDPR).

When users sign up for a Google account, they are allegedly unfairly directed into Google's monitoring system rather than receiving privacy by design and default as mandated by the GDPR.

According to Ursula Pachl, deputy director-general of the BEUC, "Contrary to what Google claims about protecting consumers' privacy, signing up for a Google account put tens of millions of Europeans on a fast track to monitoring."

Pachl stated in a statement that "It only takes one easy step to allow Google to track & profit from everything you do. To take advantage of privacy-friendly settings, you have to go through a longer process and a variety of ambiguous and deceptive options.

In other words, when you open a Google account, you are under surveillance both intentionally and automatically.

Instead, privacy protection should be the default and most straightforward option for consumers, according to the BEUC.

Customers have the option of creating a Google account willingly or are required to do so in order to utilise specific Google products and services.

For instance, if customers wish to download apps from the Google Play store after purchasing a smartphone that runs Google's Android operating system, which nearly seven out of ten phones (69%) worldwide rely on, they must first register an account.

The user sets all account settings that support Google's monitoring activities in only one step (Express personalization), according to consumer rights organisations.

Google does not give users the ability to toggle every setting "off" with a single click.

The more privacy-friendly settings must be activated manually by users, which entails five steps, ten clicks, and wrangling with ambiguous, insufficient, and conflicting information & deceptive, the consumer advocacy groups claimed.

Whatever the consumer decides, Google's data processing is unlawful, they claimed transparent and unjust, using users' personal information for nebulous and distant reasons reaching

Google hadn't responded to the privacy complaint as of yet.

Google, according to Pachl, "Is a recurrent offender. We have been complaining about Google's location-tracking policies for more than three years, but the case has not yet been resolved by the relevant Irish Data Protection Commissioner."

The European Data Protection Board must prioritise and facilitate collaboration among data protection authorities throughout the EU in this instance since it is of strategic importance.