Dutch authorities could fine Google as much as £12m (€15m) for online privacy breaches.
The search company is failing to abide by the data protection act in the Netherlands by taking users’ private information such as browsing history and location data to target them with customised ads, according to the country’s Data Protection Authority (DPA).
The Dutch regulator has given Google until the end of February to change how it handles the data it collects from individual web users.
Google has also been under investigation in Britain, France, Germany, Italy and Spain for its handling of user data since introducing new company guidelines two years ago.
Jacob Kohnstamm, DPA chairman, said: “This has been ongoing since 2012 and we hope our patience will no longer be tested.”
‘An invisible web of our personal information’
Google captures data from search engine queries, emails, third-party websites tracking or “cookies”, location data and YouTube browsing to customise advertising.
“This combining occurs without Google adequately informing the users in advance and without the company asking for consent. This is in breach of the law,” the DPA said.
Kohnstamm said Google’s practices “catch us in an invisible web of our personal information, without telling us or asking our permission”.
The authority ordered the company to start informing users of its actions and seeking their consent or face fines of up to €15m (£12m).
A spokesman said that Google was disappointed with the Dutch DPA’s order because it had already made several changes to its privacy policy in response to the regulator’s concerns.
“However, we’ve recently shared some proposals for further changes with the group of European data protection authorities and we look forward to discussing with them soon,” he added.
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