14 DAY TRIAL // Google is headed for a clash with Europe's privacy and data protection regulators, as the company doesn't seem to want to concede to any of the requests while the regulators don't seem to want to give up trying to find something to pin on Google.
The heart of the dispute is the unified privacy policy that Google rolled out last year. Google took the more than 70 privacy policies that governed its many services and replaced them with a single document.
But Europe wasn't particularly keen on the change, which also meant that Google services could share data with each other.
In particular, France's CNIL investigated the matter and made several demands to Google to make new changes to the new policy and revert some of the changes it made. Google has been unwilling to let go of its unified policy.
CNIL has now instructed data protection bodies in several other EU countries, UK, France, Italy, Germany, Spain, and the Netherlands, who were all part of the investigation, that Google won't agree to any change.
What this means is that the individual organizations will begin investigations and possibly move to fine Google over the change.
Meanwhile, Google is sticking to its guns, it believes its new policy doesn't run afoul of the law so it's not going to change it.
"Our privacy policy respects European law and allows us to create simpler, more effective services. We have engaged fully with the [Data Protection Authorities] involved throughout this process, and we’ll continue to do so going forward," Google told The Verge.
That's the same statement that Google has given throughout the investigation. The fact that several bodies are now involved doesn't necessarily mean that Google will be fined.
Even if it is, it will take a while to get there. Google will also be able to appeal the decisions, so this whole ordeal is going to take more than a year to get through.