对于Google来说，用户意味着什么？它又是否真的了解自己的用户？这是周二，欧洲隐私监管机构对Google发起的警告，勒令其尽快澄清这些问题——否则，将于明年年初对其收取罚金或实施其他惩罚。
在一封致Google首席执行官拉里•佩奇（Larry Page）的信中，27家欧洲数据保护机构要求Google对其发布的全球隐私策略作出修改，范围涉及数十项谷歌在线服务——包括当家业务搜索引擎、Android手机应用程序和YouTube视频——这样一来，用户就能更加清晰的了解个人信息被收集情况，并能更好地控制如何避免私人信息广告商共享。
此外，其他几家互联网公司，如Facebook和微软一样，Google也收集个人数据，比如用户性别、年龄以及他们的网页浏览历史，为了针对用户提供最适合的个性化服务，同时也方便针对不同群体出售相关广告。
去年冬天，Google发布隐私政策，并表示已经找到简化使用个人资料，提供一系列服务的方法，并分别列为独立的隐私准则。为了符合欧洲隐私保护法律的标准，Google称其收集用户信息是仅在用户“选择（opted in）”的情况下才进行。但其实质是，用户开启每一项信服务之前，首次使用都必须通过点击“我同意”按钮才能进入到下一步。只有如此，新服务才能生效。
分析师表示，假如Google接受了监管机构的建议，未来的Google业务多寡将取决于用户是否愿意接受更详细的新隐私政策条款。一旦大量用户选择了退出，Google的广告收入将首当其冲受到严重影响。
早在去年冬天，欧洲隐私监管机构就曾要求Google推迟其对新项目的实施计划。被其拒绝后，欧盟委员会（European Commission）便要求法国隐私机构带头率先对其进行法律分析，并最终，于上周二对佩奇发出了致信。
欧洲隐私监管机构还表示，Google向用户提供的信息及存储数据不全，并无法通过不同的Google服务中建立详尽的个人信息，控制不足。另外，Google在删除此前收集的用户数据这一块行动上，动作过于迟缓。
法国数据保护当局主席Isabelle Falque-Pierrotin在于巴黎召开的新闻发布会上表示，“最新的隐私政策将允许信息集成并同时适用于Google的多项不同服务，这一创举史无前例。我们不反对这个，但是原则上，用户信息可能被使用的方式，用户也许无从察觉。”
法国数据保护局（CNIL）对政策变化做过专门调查，机构代表Falque-Pierrotin女士对欧盟数据保护当局说，她将给Google“三至四个月”的时间作出调整。如果一旦Google拒绝，数据保护当局可能会立即对其采取法律行动或者处以罚款。
Google回应，当前还正在仔细研读信函及来自数据保护当局发出的报告。但又补充道，他相信，新的隐私政策一定会是完全遵守欧盟相关法律法规的。
“新的隐私政策表明了我们长期致力于保护服务产品和用户信息，并始终如一的为用户创造出更伟大的产品，”Google全球隐私顾问Peter Fleischer在发表声明中这样说道。
分析师说，Google必须修改政策，才能跟进其竞争对手苹果和Facebook的发展步伐。因为他们的服务比Google更完善。Falque-Pierrotin则反驳称，更高的透明度很有可能成为Google的竞争优势。
Google的最新隐私政策要求用户只有接受它才能够使用全方位的服务，而不是准入其个人信息数据。如此一来，欧洲信息监管机构便会应允。但这样做是否会对Google的商务运营造成严重影响，目前尚不清楚。
“如果Google负责任的解决好这个问题，我认为他们的业务不会受到多大影响。”分析师说，“当然，这也只是一个相对性的问题了。”
What does Google know about its users and how does it know it? European privacy regulators on Tuesday warned the company to clarify those issues — or risk fines or other penalties by early next year.
In a letter to Larry Page, the chief executive of Google, 27 European data-protection agencies asked the company to modify its global privacy policy that governs dozens of Google online services — including the flagship search engine, Android mobile phone apps and YouTube videos — so that users have a clearer understanding of what personal data is being collected and can better control how that information is shared with advertisers.
Along with other Internet companies like Facebook and Microsoft, Google collects personal data, like the sex and age of users and their Web browsing histories, in order to tailor their services to individual users and also to sell ads.
When Google introduced the privacy policy last winter, it described it as a way to streamline its use of personal data across a range of services that were each previously covered by separate privacy guidelines. And in keeping with European privacy law, Google said it was collecting the data only if users “opted in.” But opting in essentially became a requirement of using each of the services, by clicking the “I Agree” button before using the service for the first time, after the new policy went into effect.
Analysts say the impact on Google’s business of accepting the regulators’ recommendations depends on whether customers readily accept having to opt into a more detailed privacy policy. If large numbers of users opt out, Google’s advertising revenue would suffer.
European privacy regulators had expressed concern last winter about the new procedures and had asked Google to delay implementing them. After the company declined, the European Commission asked France’s privacy agency to take the lead on a legal analysis, which resulted in the warning letter Tuesday to Mr. Page.
The privacy regulators said Google provided users with incomplete disclosure about its processing and storage of the data, as well as insufficient control over how information from different Google services is blended to build detailed personal profiles. Google also makes it too cumbersome for users to block the collection of these data, the regulators said.
“The new privacy policy allows an unprecedented combination of data across different Google services,” Isabelle Falque-Pierrotin, chairwoman of the French data-protection authority, said at a news conference in Paris. “We are not opposed to this, in principle, but the data could be employed in ways that the user is not aware of.”
Ms. Falque-Pierrotin, whose agency, called CNIL, conducted an investigation of the policy change on behalf of the other European Union data-protection authorities, said she would give Google “three to four months” to make changes. If the company refuses, she and other officials said, the data-protection authorities might take legal action or impose fines.
Google said it was reviewing the letter and an accompanying report from the data-protection authorities, but added that it was confident that the new policy respected European Union law.
“Our new privacy policy demonstrates our longstanding commitment to protecting our users’ information and creating great products,” Peter Fleischer, the Google global privacy counsel, said in a statement.
Analysts say Google needed to change its policy to keep pace with rivals like Apple and Facebook, whose services are more integrated than Google’s. Ms. Falque-Pierrotin countered that greater transparency could actually be a competitive advantage for Google.
Google’s new privacy policy requires users to accept it before being able to use the full range of services, rather than approving individual uses of their data, as the European regulators would like. Whether this would dissuade them from using Google services is not clear.
“If Google did that responsibly, I don’t think it would kill their business,” Mr. Gould said. “But that is the 64,000-terabyte question.”
