Google Fined €150,000 by French Data Protection Authorities

The French privacy regulatory group, the Commission nationale de l’informatique et des libertés (CNIL) has fined Google €150,000 for violating the French Data Protection Act, according to the commission`s website.

“On 1 March 2012, Google decided to merge into one single policy the different privacy policies applicable to about 60 of its services, including Google Search, YouTube, Gmail, Picasa, Google Drive, Google Docs, Google Maps, etc.,” the CNIL says.

EU Data Protection Authorities have concluded the new policy contradicts several legal requirements including the company`s obligation to inform users of the process and goal of the data collection, the need for customer consent before storing cookies and the legal permission to gather customer data from across all its services.

The Sanctions Committee also ordered Google to publish a notice on its French website within 8 days of publication of the decision.

These conclusions are similar to those issued by the Spanish and Dutch authorities based on their national privacy laws.

Google`s says it will cooperate with the CNIL to consolidate its actions. “We’ve engaged fully with the CNIL throughout this process to explain our privacy policy and how it allows us to create simpler, more effective services,” a Google spokesperson told CNET. “We’ll be reading their report closely to determine next steps.”