Policy Observatory
Italian privacy watchdog says to conduct inspections at Google U.S. offices
Italy's data privacy watchdog said Google Inc had agreed to it conducting inspections at its Californian headquarters, the first time a European Union regulator will make checks on the company inside U.S. territory.
Friday's announcement represents the latest privacy challenge for the company in the EU and underscores the willingness of the 28-member bloc to ensure its citizens' data are treated according to EU law, even when held in foreign jurisdictions.
Google has been under investigation by several EU data protection authorities (DPAs) since it consolidated some 70 existing privacy policies into one in March 2012, combining data collected on individual users across its services, including YouTube, Gmail and social network Google+.
Country: Italy
Domains: Privacy
Stakeholder: Government
Tags: privacy policy, Italy, DPA, jurisdiction, inspection, privacy