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French Officials Say EU Will Sanction Google Over Privacy
taz346 writes "French officials said on Monday that the EU intends to sanction Google after the Internet search giant failed to respond to concerns about its privacy policy. 'At the end of a four-month delay accorded to Google to comply with the European data protection directive and to implement effectively (our) recommendations, no answer has been given,' said France's CNIL data protection agency. Google's new policy, implemented in March 2012, allows it to track users over multiple sites. Users who sign in to Google services cannot opt out. CNIL said a working group would meet next week to begin work on 'coercive actions which should be implemented before the summer' against Google."
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Citizenship_of_the_European_Union
The CNIL (a French agency checking privacy issues on internet) is almost powerless: they can barely "suggest" stuff to be done, maybe, once every new moon, even on France-only related issues. They can't propose laws or impose anything on anyone. I believe google is well aware of their power and responded adequatly :-)
Not saying that nothing should be done on the issue, but it won't work at such a small scale.
but you don't understand, peoples *have* to use google. I've seen it, if you don't use google's services, someone come at your house, put a loaded gun on the side of your head, and whisper softly in your ear "would you kindly log yourself into our services?".
Or maybe not, my memory is fuzzy on the details.
This is perhaps the single most stupid thing I've read on this topic. You admit to being an avid user of Google's services, yet you object to the "price" that they offer those services for. When you go to the grocery store, if you don't like the price of milk, do you demand that the government make the store give it to you for free?
Don't want to agree to Google's terms of use? I have a perfect solution for you - use somebody else's services.
Oh, and you're on the internet. Good luck with that fantasy of keeping your data under your absolute control...
Life needs more saving throws.
Ah it looks like you're right, at least in terms of any serious sanctions. They do have the authority to impose fines, but the fine amounts look so small I assume Google just doesn't care. In fact, from what I can find, Google currently holds the record for a CNIL fine: in 2011 they were fined 100,000 Euros over wifi data that was recorded by Google Street View cars. They didn't bother to send any response to the inquiry that time, either.
10 PRINT CHR$(205.5+RND(1)); : GOTO 10
If I call you my subject will you accept me as king? Would it be alright if others did business with me as if I were your king even if you don't accept me as such?
You've been called off and shown to be wrong, so instead you double down. And triple down. And continue to find excuses to make it appear as if you were right. People like you are responsible for every single thing that human beings do wrong. Literally every stupid or malevolent decision made by any human can be traced back to the feeling of superiority to everyone else you're demonstrating and/or a complete disregard for any evidence given to the contrary of your beliefs, which you're also demonstrating in abundance. Take a step to become a better man today, read what I have to say below and admit you're fucking wrong.
The European Union is pretty much like the United States. We're all citizens of our individual states. I'm a citizen of South Carolina, for example. The states formed an union. As a result, I'm also a citizen of the United States.
The European Union is a governing body. It has a parliament elected by its citizens through a form of proportional representation to be decided by the member states. It has a common currency. Members of different member states can move and work in any other member state...passports issued by member nations of the European Union have the words "European Union" written in the cover.
The European Union has citizens, they're properly represented, and you're an idiot.
It's not an ad homenim if you really are a fucking idiot.
Slashdot is proof that Sturgeon's Law applies to mankind.