Google Inc. (GOOG)’s privacy practices are the worst among the Internet’s top destinations, according to a watchdog group seeking to intensify the recent focus on how the online search leader handles personal information about its users.
In a report released Saturday, London-based Privacy International assigned Google its lowest possible grade. The category is reserved for companies with “comprehensive consumer surveillance and entrenched hostility to privacy.”
None of the 22 other surveyed companies – a group that included Yahoo Inc. (YHOO), Microsoft Corp. (MSFT) and AOL – sunk to that level, according to Privacy International.
While a number of other Internet companies have troubling policies, none comes as close to Google to “achieving status as an endemic threat to privacy,” Privacy International said in an explanation of its findings.
In a statement from one of its lawyers, Google said it aggressively protects its users’ privacy and stands behind its track record. In its most conspicuous defense of user privacy, Google last year successfully fought a U.S. Justice Department subpoena demanding to review millions of search requests.
“We are disappointed with Privacy International’s report, which is based on numerous inaccuracies and misunderstandings about our services,” said Nicole Wong, Google’s deputy general counsel.
“It’s a shame that Privacy International decided to publish its report before we had an opportunity to discuss our privacy practices with them.”
I’ve switched to using http://www.scroogle.org/cgi-bin/scraper.htm
I confess Google’s privacy issues worry me. It’s easy to compromise as a user on this and put up with the risks just because Google is so powerful and user-friendly and has some great applications. But it’s definitely something I think many of us need to be more aware of than we are.