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Senator Richard Blumenthal (D-CT) on Wednesday called for a data disclosure investigation that closed the Google+ social media network. A few hours later, a bipartisan group of senators, including Blumenthal, sent a letter to the Federal Trade Commission to urge it to take action.
In March of this year, Google discovered a bug in a Google+ API that exposed and risked disclosing the private information of its users, as indicated by The Wall Street Journalalthough the exposure was kept secret for months afterwards. After the announcement of the vulnerability, Google announced that it was going to start closing its mainstream offering over the next 10 months.
Google has never revealed this exposure to its users for fear of a bad press, a decision that has been criticized by senators during today 's hearing. No personal data has been disclosed as a result of this exhibition. As a result, no existing law on disclosure of offenses has been triggered. However, senators worried about Google's attempt to hide the visibility of its users. "I think that kind of deliberate concealment is absolutely intolerable," Blumenthal said.
In the letter, lawmakers say Google has already been warned twice by the FTC, once in 2011 after launching its first social network, Google Buzz. Google has accepted a regulation that includes a consent decree prohibiting the company from "misrepresenting the confidentiality of personal information."
Senators claimed that Google's inaction after discovering Google+'s vulnerability could put the company in violation of the licensing decree and that the speed with which the company has grown may be reason enough for another investigation. "Google now has little resemblance to the company that it was at the time of the consent decree, which necessitates a new investigation into its privacy practices across its product line and products. Activities, "wrote the legislator.
Wednesday's hearing did not focus on Google's data exposure, but several senators on both sides of the aisle cited the incident to show why federal privacy legislation was needed. The chair of the committee, Senator John Thune (R-SD), said in his opening statement that after Monday's reports on Google+, "it is becoming increasingly evident that self-regulation of the 39, industry in this area is not enough ".
"This incident further highlights the need to look more closely at how we could structure data breach notification in federal legislation," said Senator Maggie Hassan (D-NH), "because it is really disturbing to deal with this incident that affected so many people … was not to be publicly disclosed. "
In September, Google CEO Sundar Pichai sharply criticized the legislator for missing a Senate hearing on social media manipulation, leaving an empty chair at Google, alongside Twitter CEO Jack Dorsey and the director. from the operation, Facebook, Sheryl Sandberg. Pichai is scheduled to appear before the Judiciary Committee in November.
"If the FTC discovers problematic behavior, we encourage you to act decisively to stop this behavior by providing substantial financial penalties and strong legal remedies," the senators wrote.
Updated 5:37 pm ET: The story has been updated to include a description of the legislator's letter and additional information on their claims.
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