Google sign-up a 'fast track to surveillance', consumer groups say

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2022-06-30 04:00:06

Google is facing action from a coalition of ten European consumer organisations over the company's account sign-up process.

The company said that consumer trust depended on honesty and transparency and it had "staked our future success on building ever simpler, more accessible controls and giving people clearer choices.

The European Consumer Organisation (BEUC), which co-ordinates the coalition, claims the language Google uses in the registration process is "unclear, incomplete, and misleading" leading many consumers to pick options that are less privacy-friendly.

As a result "tens of millions of Europeans have been placed on a fast track to surveillance when they signed up to a Google account" BEUC claims.

The consumer organisation believes sign-up is the critical point at which Google asks users to choose how their account will operate.

But the simplest one step "express personalisation" process, it alleges, leaves consumers with account settings that "feed Google's surveillance activities".