Monday, September 12, 2011

Google and California Online Privacy Protection Act of 2003

The California Online Privacy Protection Act of 2003 or OPPA became effective on July 1, 2004, is a pioneering privacy law enacted by a state. It requires owners of commercial websites or online services to conspicuously post a privacy policy.

Applicability

OPPA applies to any website that collect personally identifiable information from California consumers.

OPPA does not apply to ISPs or similar entities that transmit such information at the request of third parties.

Google accused of OPPA non-compliance

In 2008, a New York Times reporter said in a blog post that Google might be violating OPPA since it hadn’t posted a link to its privacy policy from the homepage. Rather, the search engine’s privacy policy had been posted at the bottom of the About Google page.

Following this, privacy activists and groups sent the Google CEO a letter charging that "Google's reluctance to post a link to its privacy policy on its home page is alarming."

The company had argued that users could access its privacy policy by typing Google Privacy Policy in its search engine. A month and a barrage of criticism later, Google linked to its privacy policy from its homepage, fulfilling OPPA requirements

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