For a highly visible company whose mission is to organize information and make it widely accessible, privacy issues at Google are inevitable. The company collects data on millions of Internet user searches, which it says delivers potential benefits for web users. However, the practice has prompted concerns from privacy protection groups about the type of information Google gathers, how much is kept and for how long, and what kinds of controls are in place to protect data from misuse. There are also simmering debates about under what conditions law enforcement agencies should have access to this data.

Google reportedly blacklisted CNET reporters for a year after the technology news service published a story containing personal information about CEO Eric Schmidt—his salary, neighborhood, hobbies and political donations—all using Google searches, to demonstrate the implications of amassing enormous amounts of information on individuals.

Privacy groups criticized Google when it reversed its previous policy to not use behavioral targeting and launched targeted ads in 2009. Privacy issues will grow more complex as the company develops new operating systems designed to move computer-based functions to a proprietary Internet "cloud." Last year, a bug in its Google Docs software allowed some users to access personal documents of other users. The data breach highlighted concerns with the adequacy of Google’s security practices, according to the Electronic Privacy Information Center (EPIC).

Facebook CEO Mark Zuckerberg famously stated in January 2010 that privacy may no longer be considered a social norm. However, Google faced a firestorm of consumer criticism in February 2010 when it introduced Buzz, a social networking tool, which initially connected users and their most frequent e-mail contacts to each other without providing adequate options to first remove contacts a user might not want linked. It was reportedly introduced to 176 million Gmail users by default. Privacy advocates say it could unintentionally aid stalkers, jeopardize confidential sources, or reveal proprietary relationships to third parties. Many users were angered by what they considered an invasion of privacy.

Learn more about our work with Google on behavioral advertising here.