EU 'may take action' against Google over privacy policy

EU watchdogs plan to take action against Google by this summer over the web giant's current privacy policy, French privacy regulator CNIL (Commission nationale de l'informatique et des libertés) has said.

Since March, Google has been combining data from across its sites to potentially better target adverts - which regulators see as "high risk" to people's privacy. Last October, the firm was given four months to revise its policy.

Google said its actions did comply with EU law. The new policy was implemented after the company combined 60 separate privacy policies into one agreement.

But according to the CNIL, Google has not yet made the changes demanded by the regulators.

"Google did not provide any precise and effective answers," CNIL said on Monday.

"In this context, the EU data protection authorities are committed to act and continue their investigations. Therefore, they propose to set up a working group, led by the CNIL, in order to coordinate their reaction, which should take place before summer."

But Google said the firm did respect European law.

"We have engaged fully with the CNIL throughout this process, and we'll continue to do so going forward," the firm told the BBC.