German privacy agency said: Google Maps for iPhone violates EU law

According to foreign media reports, according to foreign media reports, a German data protection agency stated that when users install Google Maps on the iPhone, the option to share location data with Google is turned on by default. Google This approach violates EU data protection laws.

The iPhone version of Google Maps landed on the Apple App Store application store on Wednesday, and was quickly sought after by users. It has quickly become the most downloaded free application.

When users download Google Maps for iPhone, Google reminds users to accept their service agreement and privacy policy on the startup screen. Google warns users on the startup screen that they will share their location with the company and “help us improve our services, including traffic. Google Location Services will collect anonymous data and send it back to the company, or it may be stored on the user’s device.” .

Marit Hansen, deputy privacy and information specialist at the Independent Centre for Privacy Protection Schleswig-Holstein, said in an e-mail, but the text The options behind are checked by default, which is not permitted by European data protection laws.

Hansen said that Google's definition of "anonymity" does not ensure that users are truly anonymous, and Google can still track the user's location. "This is obviously not truly anonymous." She had to think that Google's so-called "anonymous location data" belongs to the EU data. Protecting "personal data" prescribed by law.

Hanson said that when a company wants to process personal data, it must obtain explicit authorization from the user rather than just let the user opt out. "So I came to the conclusion that Google's practice is not in conformity with the current EU data protection laws." .

In January, the Netherlands Data Protection Agency ruled that the navigation service TomTom could only collect and process anonymous location information after obtaining the user's authorization, “because location information is sensitive personal information”. According to the Netherlands Data Protection Authority, TomTom can use location data to infer the user’s address.

IT problem lawyer Mark Jansen said, "This kind of data is considered personal data. When Google collects user's location data, it needs to be authorized by the user. Google allows users to agree to collect location data by default. appropriate."

The Google spokesperson did not comment on Hansen’s claim, but mentioned a webpage where Google stated on the web page, “When users use the 'My Location' feature in the mobile version of Google Maps, Google will not Know the user's identity."

The Google spokesperson mentioned that the Dutch Data Protection Agency's decision stated that “the company will only collect user’s location information after obtaining the user's consent” and users can turn this option off at any time.