Google’s users in the UK will no longer be protected by Europe’s strict GDPR
Google is planning to move its British users’ accounts out of the control of European Union privacy regulators, placing them under U.S. jurisdiction instead, sources said.
The shift, prompted by Britain’s exit from the EU, will leave the sensitive personal information of tens of millions with less protection and within easier reach of British law enforcement.
The change was described to Reuters by three people familiar with its plans. Google intends to require its British users to acknowledge new terms of service including the new jurisdiction.
Ireland, where Google and other U.S. tech companies have their European headquarters, is staying in the EU, which has one of the world’s most aggressive data protection rules, the General Data Protection Regulation.
Google has decided to move its British users out of Irish jurisdiction because it is unclear whether Britain will follow GDPR or adopt other rules that could affect the handling of user data, the people said.
So, what could this mean for UK Google users?
- If British Google users have their data kept in Ireland, it would be more difficult for British authorities to recover it in criminal investigations.
- The United States has among the weakest privacy protections of any major economy, with no broad law despite years of advocacy by consumer protection groups.
- In a nutshell, Privacy for UK google users is a great concern following this news
Anito Lauriello Managing Director of Cirrus Technology solutions says “Google stores more personal and business data than anyone else on the planet! We are leaving the EEC but we have fully adopted all the Eu laws into British laws even after we leave and they all still apply UNTIL the UK chooses to start removing or altering them! It would be wise for the UK government to fully establish GDPR and to state fully that its still applies to all UK citizens and Google cannot circumvent that.”
Lauriello goes on to say ” What concerns me is that there are many businesses out there that probably keep confidential documents on Google Drive, some describing products or services that could be competitive to Google. Would Google misuse this change in data protection to access that data covertly under the pretence of social good/crime fighting etc, even if there was no such threat? My opinion is that Google taking this action is almost certainly based on grabbing more data”
On the plus side UK/EU business would likely move to Microsoft in order to protect their data!
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Google’s users in the UK will no longer be protected by Europe’s strict GDPR
