Pa., Del. attorneys general oppose new Google policy

Three dozen state attorneys general, including those from Pennsylvania and Delaware, are asking to sit down with the head of Google to discuss an imminent change in the Internet behemoth’s privacy policy.

 

The change would be an automatic merging of personal information held by services such as YouTube and all other Google products.

Nils Frederiksen, a spokesman for Pennsylvania Attorney General Linda Kelly, said the office handles widespread cases of identity theft frequently enough to know that the new policy could threaten users’ privacy.

“Anything that can be done from a prevention point of view is much better than trying to plug a hole or deal with privacy breaches or deal with other large scale problems after the fact,” he said Friday. “By then, the damage is done, information’s compromised, and people are left to pick up the pieces.”

Users would not be able to exempt themselves from the new privacy policy without making a clean break from all Google products.

Frederiksen says that means those who use Android-powered smartphones would find it virtually impossible to use their phones without also using Google services.

In a letter to Google CEO Larry Page, the attorneys general asked for a response by Wednesday — the day before the privacy policy is scheduled to take effect.