Congress is under increasing pressure on Google's privacy

Republican leaders of the Senate Commerce Committee demand answers from Google chief executive Sundar Pichai about a newly disclosed vulnerability on Google+, requesting the company's internal communications on the issue in a letter sent today .

Last March, Google discovered a flaw in its Google+ API that could reveal the private information of hundreds of thousands of users. In the internal note obtained first by The Wall Street Journal, Google officials have chosen not to disclose this vulnerability to its users or the public, for fear of bad press or possible regulatory action. Legislators are now asking to see these communications for themselves.

"While the Senate Commerce Committee is developing legislation to establish a national privacy framework to protect consumer data, improving transparency will be a key pillar of efforts to restore American confidence." in the services that they use, "wrote the lawmakers. "That's why the content reported on Google's internal rating is so disturbing."

On Wednesday, Democratic counterparts committee members contacted the Federal Trade Commission to demand that the agency investigate Google+'s security breach, claiming in a letter that, if agency officials discovered "a problematic behavior, we encourage you to act decisively. " put an end to this type of behavior by imposing substantial pecuniary sanctions and solid legal remedies ".

The invasion of Google+ privacy is part of a heated debate over the privacy of consumer data, caused by the persistent scandal of Cambridge Analytica on Facebook. In recent weeks, lawmakers have repeatedly heard from technical officials, policy makers and advocates on how to develop a comprehensive federal privacy bill. Pichai stood aside from these discussions, leaving even the vacant company's headquarters at a recent hearing before the Senate's Intelligence Committee, to which Facebook and Twitter officials have faced clashes. legislators.

At the same time, some senators are expressing a new openness to anti-monopoly action against modern technology companies such as Google. In an interview published today in L & # 39; AtlanticSenators Mark Warner (D-VA) worried that Google and Facebook may be too important for effective competitors to emerge. "Is there ever an ability to actually break their market dominance?" Warner said. "Even if you have a better application, you can never match them to data"

By sending these letters and asking for inquiries, Congress begins to use what it heard during hearings to begin acting on behalf of consumers.

"In the wake of the controversy over Cambridge Analytica, consumer confidence in the companies that use these services to protect their personal data has been shaken," reads in today's letter. "Even as Facebook learned the important lesson that technology companies must be in direct contact with the public on privacy issues, Google has apparently chosen not to disclose information about a relevant vulnerability by afraid of the public's attention. "

Google has until October 30 to respond to senators' requests, just weeks before the scheduled date of Mr. Pichai's appearance before the Judiciary Committee of the House of Representatives after the mid-term elections in November. The exact date of this hearing has not been announced yet.