Dutch privacy watchdog says Google in breach of data law

Google's practice of combining personal data from its many different online services violates Dutch data protection law, the country's privacy watchdog said on Thursday following a seven-month investigation. The Dutch Data Protection Authority asked Google to attend a meeting to discuss its concerns, after which it would decide whether to take any action against the cloud services, internet search and advertising giant, which could include fines. Google, responding to the Dutch authority's findings, said it provided users of its services with sufficiently specific information about the way it processed users' personal data. The Dutch decision reflects concerns across Europe about the volume of personal data that is held in foreign jurisdictions in so-called "cloud" storage services, where data is stored remotely via the Internet instead of on-site, giving individuals little control over their personal information.

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