Google Proposes International Web Privacy Standards

This Friday, Google will submit a proposal asking that both government and technology companies come together and create a transnational privacy policy, as concerns grow over how personal data is shared and handled over the Internet.

The proposal will take place in Strasbourg, France at the United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization, which will deal with the merge of human rights and ethics and technology.

It will propose an overall increase of dialog amongst regulators, private companies and international organizations so as to create a more unified standard on the issue.

According to Google, the proposed policy, if one should ever come to place, will be collaborative and one that self-regulates itself by companies. Google does not propose a prescriptive set or rules or laws.

Google’s not necessarily pioneering with the proposal, as having privacy standards in not new by any means. For example, Asia-Pacific Economic Cooperation (APEC) created a nine-point Privacy Framework designed to aid countries without existing policies.

The idea that all business and government unite on one set of standards is their goal. In the least, Google wants to spark a sustained and creative debate.

Google argues that the focus on privacy by governments and individuals has resulted in localized legislation which in turn causes very fragmented privacy regulations. If everyone’s following different rules, it can make it very difficult for e-commerce, especially since an increasing amount of data is crossing international borders through credit card transactions.

It makes sense that Google’s taking some form of action, regardless of its effectiveness or potential vagueness. Because Google’s search power, software services and commerce continue to increase so quickly, everyone’s scrutinizing its privacy policies.

It didn’t help when Google bought DoubleClickInc, an online ad company that uses high end trend trackers as a means for higher ad effectiveness. Although the same technology is used by many Internet ad companies, it seemed Google ranked highest in getting all the negative attention regarding privacy issues.

Even the Bureau Europien des Unions de Consommateurs, a European consumer group, asked the European Commission and other authorities to investigate how the DoubleClick would affect consumers.

This last June, Google said it would delete the data it stores about end users anonymous in its server logs after 18th months – perhaps one more way to keep from the finger pointing.