Germany has ruled that Google must limit its data collection practices, the latest in a series of actions in Europe against the search giant.

The Hamburg data protection commissioner Johannes Caspar this week rejected Google’s appeal against a previous ruling that ordered the company to change the way it processes data from its many services in the country.

The Hamburg commissioner, who represents the data protection authorities across Germany on this issue, issued an administrative order in September that found Google was able to unlawfully access a multitude of private information without users’ express consent, including such things as travel plans using its location data, users’ interests by evaluating search engine use, financial status by analyzing collected data, and even infer sexual orientation and relationship status.

Google filed an appeal against the Hamburg order in November, and the commissioner has now overruled its objections.

“It’s now in Google’s hands to implement our stipulations, eg, by a transparent mechanism for consent to process user data,” Caspar said. “I expect that this will continue to take place as part of a constructive dialogue and will ultimately result in the clear strengthening of the rights of users of Google’s services in Germany and across Europe as well.”

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http://www.zdnet.com/article/germany-throws-out-googles-objections-to-data-privacy-rules/

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