Already under investigation by regulators in Europe, a new complaint against Google claims its ban of one privacy application violates antitrust regulations.

Disconnect, the maker of a privacy app that stops surreptitious user tracking and malicious advertising, filed a complaint with the European Union on Tuesday. The complaint argues that Google’s decision last year to remove Disconnect’s app from the Google Play store was an abuse of its “dominant position on Android, the Play Store, and Chrome mobile.”

“We don’t oppose advertising and understand ad revenue is critically important to many Internet companies, publishers and developers,” Disconnect Co-founder and CEO Casey Oppenheim said on Tuesday. “But users have the right to protect themselves from invisible tracking and malware, both of which put sensitive personal information at risk. Advertising doesn’t have to violate user privacy and security.”

Google has called the complaint “baseless” and says the Disconnect app violates its policies.

Read the Full Article: Source – c|net
http://www.cnet.com/news/google-hit-with-antitrust-complaint-over-banned-privacy-app/

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