Bits Blog: Privacy Officials Worldwide Press Google About Glass

Justin Sullivan/Getty Images An attendee tries Google Glass during the Google I/O developer conference in San Francisco.

Ten government privacy and data protection officials from seven countries have asked Google to address privacy concerns related to its wearable computing device, Glass.

The letter was sent to Larry Page, Google’s chief executive, by 10 commissioners from Canada, the Netherlands, Australia, New Zealand, Mexico, Israel and Switzerland. It comes after a letter sent by eight members of Congress in May raising similar questions about Glass and privacy.

“We would be very interested in hearing about the privacy implications of this new product and the steps you are taking to ensure that, as you move forward with Google Glass, individuals’ privacy rights are respected around the world,” the officials wrote.

Glass, which is not yet available to the public, tethers to a user’s cellphone and has much of the same functionality, like text messaging and phone calls. It can also take photos and record video hands-free, and apps from news organizations, social networks, Google Maps and others send alerts and updates to a screen above the user’s right eye.

The officials raised fears of “ubiquitous surveillance” and asked about Google’s privacy safeguards, what it plans to do with the data the devices collect and how it is addressing “the broader social and ethical issues” raised by Glass. They lamented that Google has not yet reached out to data protection authorities to discuss the privacy implications of Glass.

Mr. Page addressed similar questions at Google’s shareholders meeting this month, where he made his first public comments about the issue. He said that many people already carried cellphone cameras everywhere they go, and that Glass was no different.

“People worry about a lot of things that, when we use the products, don’t turn out to be an actual concern,” Mr. Page said.

Many people at Google wear Glass, he said. “When you go into the bathroom, you don’t collapse in terror that people might be wearing these in the bathroom, just like you don’t collapse in terror that someone will hold up a cellphone in the bathroom.”

“I would encourage you not to create fear and concern about technological change until it’s out there and we understand the issues,” Mr. Page said.

Susan Molinari, Google’s vice president for public policy, responded this month to the members of Congress. She wrote that Glass would not include facial recognition, users would be able to wipe data from the device if it was misplaced or stolen and that Google was relying on early users currently testing the device to help the company shape the discussion about it.

In the letter, the privacy commissioners said they wanted a demo of the as-yet-unavailable product.

“Would Google be willing to demonstrate the device to our offices and allow any interested data protection authorities to test it?” they asked.

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The letter, organized by one of the original complainants in the case, a British online shopping service called Foundem, asked the E.U. competition commissioner, Joaquín Almunia, to take a hard line in ongoing negotiations with Google to produce concessions that would protect small European competitors.

Google, which is used for more than 80 percent of the searches conducted in Europe, could face fines of up to $5 billion or 10 percent of its 2012 revenue if a settlement is not reached.

The commission, which has expressed concerns about Google’s use of algorithmic standards to rank its own services ahead of those of some competitors, is studying Google’s own proposals to avoid litigation.

“We are becoming increasingly concerned that effective and future-proof remedies might not emerge through settlement discussions alone,” said the letter signed by the group. “In addition to materially degrading the user experience and limiting consumer choice, Google’s search manipulation practices lay waste to entire classes of competitors in every sector where Google chooses to deploy them.”

Al Verney, a Google spokesman in Brussels, declined to comment specifically on the letter, saying “We continue to work cooperatively with the European Commission.”

Antoine Colombani, a spokesman for Mr. Almunia, said by e-mail that competition officials were reviewing the proposals from Google. If a settlement were reached, Mr. Colombani said, there would be no legal finding that Google had infringed on E.U. law.

Mr. Almunia, a Spanish jurist, asked Google in December to submit its final proposals to settle the case, which began in February 2010 when complaints were filed in Brussels by Foundem; Ciao, a German price comparison site; and Ejustice.fr, a French legal advice site.

The letter was signed by senior executives at six European online businesses: Foundem, and Streetmap EU, both in Britain; Twenga, a French-based price comparison site; and Visual Meta, Hot Maps Medien, and Euro-Cities, three German online businesses.

Executives at two U.S. Web businesses, Expedia and TripAdvisor, also signed, as well as the directors of three German associations representing the publishers of newspapers, magazines and independent telephone books.

Mr. Almunia has favored negotiated settlements over protracted litigation in his three years as the top antitrust official in Europe. Google has argued that it is impossible to exert monopoly control over the huge online marketplace, and has criticized some of the complainants for belonging to professional groups set up by its archrival, Microsoft.

Microsoft had urged the U.S. Federal Trade Commission to bring a suit against Google over its search engine practices, but the U.S. agency closed its own two-year investigation in January after Google agreed to make voluntary changes to its practices.

Heiko Hanslik, the president of the German Association of Independent Directory Publishers, known by its German acronym VfT, said his members worried that European officials would not take a hard line in their negotiations with Google. The European inquiry focuses on complaints that Google favors its own competing services in the placement of search results.

Mr. Hanslik, whose association represents German publishers of online and print directories and telephone books, said a typically relevant Google search — for example, to find a painter in Saarbrücken — would not turn up a directory of one of his members until the fourth page in search results on Google. “Google is exploiting its market position here in Europe and many, many online retailers will not be able to survive if this isn’t fixed,” he said.

Mr. Almunia has been cautious about his negotiations with Google. In February 2011, he met with Eric Schmidt, then the chief executive of Google, who asked him to give the search engine a chance to propose its own solutions before Mr. Almunia issued a so-called statement of objections, a legal instrument used by the European Commission to lay out its antitrust case and set the clock running for a response from the company.

Last May, Mr. Almunia asked Google to present suggestions for resolving the conflict. In the autumn, he asked Google for more information and eventually gave the company until the end of January to propose solutions.

Google has provided those suggestions, according to one person with knowledge of the situation who was not authorized to speak publicly. Mr. Almunia and his staff are examining them, but it is unclear whether the E.U. agency is close to reaching a decision on whether to accept the proposals and settle, or proceed with a prosecution.

In their letter, the complainants, including Foundem, made it clear that they would prefer Mr. Almunia to issue a statement of objections, and then, with greater leverage under the threat of fines and legal sanctions, enter negotiations with Google.

“We will respectfully withhold judgment on Google’s proposed commitments until we have seen them, but Google’s past behavior suggests that it is unlikely to volunteer effective, future-proof remedies without being formally charged with infringement,” the group wrote in its letter. “Given this, and the fact that Google has exploited every delay to further entrench, extend, and escalate its anti-competitive activities, we urge the Commission to issue the Statement of Objections.”

Mr. Almunia’s decision will have far-reaching consequences in Europe “because it will set standards for the digital world,” said Christoph Fiedler, the managing director for media policy at the German Federation of Magazine Publishers, known by its German acronym VDZ.

James Kanter in Brussels contributed reporting.