Google plans better privacy controls

Google chairman Eric Schmidt has promised better privacy controls for Android devices

Google has promised that it will make the privacy settings on its Android platform simpler, in a move that should make users more aware of the information they are sharing.

The BBC reported that Google chairman Eric Schmidt revealed plans to hand over more privacy controls to users of his firm's web services at a UK privacy event.

And at a recent hearing in the US Senate, Schmidt admitted that the process by which users opt out of sharing personal information including their locations with Android-enabled services needed to be clearer.

And this isn't the first time Google has been in hot water over privacy issues. Last year, it admitted that its Street View cars collected data from unsecured Wi-Fi networks including emails, passwords and URLs.

It later promised to delete all such information.

At the time, Information Commissioner Christopher Graham said: "It is my view that the collection of this information was not fair or lawful and constitutes a significant breach of the first principle of the Data Protection Act.

"The most appropriate and proportionate regulatory action in these circumstances is to get written legal assurance from Google that this will not happen again – and to follow this up with an ICO audit."

Also in April this year Tom Tom was forced to apologise when it was shown to have been sharing customer data with Dutch police to help them catch speeding motorists.