Google has come under intense fire for violating iPhone users' privacy - members of U.S. Congress are calling for FTC investigation
LONDON, United Kingdom -- Google is facing fierce criticism from consumer groups after it emerged the Internet giant "bypassed Safari privacy protection", tracking millions of iPhone and other Safari browser users who intended for such tracking to be disabled.
Advertising cookies
Apple's Safari browser, which is the web browser used by the popular iPhone as well as other Apple devices, by default only allows so-called "Cookies" to be stored by the website the user is viewing, rather than third-parties such as advertisers.
This privacy setting is designed to protect users from being tracked and profiled by advertising firms.
According to a report in the Wall Street Journal on Friday, Google's advertising subsidiary DoubleClick found a way to circumvent these settings for Safari users - tracking them without their knowledge or consent, and in violation of the browser's privacy settings.
Browser exploit used for secret user tracking
Stanford University researcher Jonathan Mayer discovered Google's exploit and user tracking activities during a research project on Internet privacy.
He determined that Google routinely added some work-around code to its ads which caused the Safari browser to fill-in a hidden form. Unknown to the user, the form would then be submitted to Google which effectively gave Google permission to have its tracking code installed on the user's browser - overriding the privacy settings, and unknown to the user.
Google's response
Google responded to the Wall Street Journal's report by disabling its Safari tracking code. In a statement, Google said: "It's important to stress that these advertising cookies do not collect personal information."
Consumer privacy violation
However, consumer advocate John Simpson doesn't see the tracking through advertising cookies as trivial, according to a report by CBS News.
Explaining that user preferences and information are what Google is selling, he said: "Don't think of yourself as Google's customer, you are Google's product."
Google's action were also fiercely criticized by online privacy advocates.
"It's time for Google to acknowledge that it can do a better job of respecting the privacy of web users," the Electronic Frontier Foundation wrote.
U.S. Lawmakers calling for investigation
Three congressmen called on the Federal Trade Commission (FTC) on Friday to investigate Google's bypassing of privacy settings. Edward J. Markey (D-Mass), Joe Barton (R-Texas) and Cliff Stearns (R-Fla) want to know if Google's Safari user tracking "constitutes a violation" of a privacy settlement Google and the FTC signed last year. If found in breach, Google could be fined as much as $16,000 per violation per day.
Privacy Policy
The latest privacy violation discovery comes after Google announced it is set to introduce its new privacy rules on March 1.
Under the new rules, the Internet giant will collect and store users' personal data from substantially all of its online services, including Search, GMail, YouTube, Google+ and Google Maps, in a central database and share it across all products, primarily utilizing the user profiles for advertising purposes.
However, the introduction date may be subject to delays after the European Union's data protection authorities have asked Google to delay its rollout until they have verified that it doesn't break the bloc's data protection laws.
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