• Politico, Monday, February 13, 2012 12:11 PM

Still defending its decision to combine various user data, Google reportedly told the FTC that the upcoming changes in its privacy policy are in compliance with the company’s settlement with the federal government last year. In a self-assessment report -- delivered to the FTC in January and obtained by Politico Friday -- Google apparently lays out the steps the company has taken internally to make sure it complies with the FTC’s consent decree finalized in November over the firm’s privacy policies.

“Google says the efforts represent ‘exceptional lengths’ by the company to keep users informed how the Internet firm collects, uses and shares information,” Politico reports. Last year, Google’s settlement involving its now-defunct Buzz social network included 20 years of assessments of the firm’s privacy policies from an outside auditor. In the document, Google said it has hired PriceWaterhouseCoopers to provide the assessments, which will be made every other year starting this summer.

Additionally, the settlement specifies hefty fines if Google misrepresents its privacy practices or shares user data in new ways with third parties without first seeking user consent. This week, meanwhile, the Electronic Privacy Information Center filed a suit and motion “to compel the FTC to take enforce the consent decree,” according to Politico.

Read the whole story at Politico »