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According to a document published by Reuters, one of the major search engines on the Internet, Google, acknowledges that he has made "mistakes" on privacy issues.
"We recognize that we have made mistakes in the past, from which we have learned and improved our strong privacy program," said Keith Enright, Google Privacy Officer, before the Senate Committee on Commerce. Google will testify alongside AT & T, Amazon, Apple and other companies against a backdrop of growing concerns about data privacy.
Google's written testimony has not identified any specific prior mistakes, but the company has been criticized for confidentiality issues.
In 2012, Google agreed to pay a record $ 22.5 million fine to settle charges by the Federal Trade Commission that it would not provide tracking "cookies" or targeted advertising.
A year ago, Google had agreed to a confidentiality agreement with FTC and regular privacy audits for 20 years after the government accused it of misleading tactics and violated consumer privacy promises when launching its Google Buzz social network. .
In August, Alphabet was prosecuted and accused of illegally tracking millions of iPhone users and Android phones, even using a privacy setting to prevent it.
The US Department of Commerce said it was seeking comments on how to establish national data confidentiality rules as a result of the stringent new requirements adopted by the European Union and California.
In addition, the Department of Justice has said it has organized a "listening session" with state attorneys general on how the government can protect consumers online.
Chairman of the Senate Commerce Committee, John Thune, wrote that Congress should work to ensure that the protection of the confidentiality of consumer data is enshrined in law.
Congress questions how Internet companies sell advertising and use data from email accounts or other services. Thune wrote in The Hill newspaper that "growing controversy" has fueled the doubt that tech companies can "regulate themselves and enforce real privacy safeguards for the collection and use of our digital data."
Massive breaches of data privacy have compromised the personal information of millions of US Internet users and social network users, including notable violations of major retailers and Equifax credit reporting agencies. .
The testimony of Enright says "with advertising, as with all our products, users trust us to keep their personal information confidential and under their control.We do not sell personal information."
Andrew DeVore, a vice president of Amazon, will tell the committee that the new European privacy rules "have forced us to devote significant resources to administrative tasks and record keeping and to invent new features for customers. "
The head of data protection Twitter, Damien Kieran, will advocate the development of a "robust privacy protection framework that protects the rights of individuals … while preserving the freedom to innovate."
The National Telecommunications and Information Administration (NTIA) of the Commerce Department held this summer more than 50 meetings with high-tech companies, Internet service providers, advocates of the privacy, etc.
The Internet Association, which represents more than 40 Internet and technology companies, said this month that it was supporting the modernization of data privacy rules with a national approach that would anticipate California's privacy regulations. data in 2020.
California Governor Jerry Brown has signed legislation to give consumers more control over how businesses collect and manage their personal information. The new rules in Europe are even stricter.
The General Data Protection Regulation of the European Union entered into force in May. Violation of privacy laws can now result in fines of up to 4% of global business turnover or 20 million euros ($ 23.2 million), compared to a few hundred thousand d & # 39; euros.
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