Google Maps for iOS may violate European data protection law

Not everyone was euphoric when Google Maps for iOS showed up earlier this week. Take the Independent Centre for Privacy Protection in Schleswig-Holstein, Germany for instance. Computerworld spoke to the organization's deputy privacy and information commissioner, Marit Hansen, who expressed concerns about the app's location data sharing. By having this option switched on by default, Hansen says, it violates European data protection law.

When downloading the Google Maps iOS app, users are initially met with location data sharing information. "Anonymous location data will be collected by Google's location service and sent to Google, and may be stored on your device," users are warned. And, as Hansen notes, Google has already made the decision to agree for you. Simply "accept & continue" without another glance, right?

Hansen's main gripe is that Google's use of "anonymous" is misleading. "All available information points to having linkable identifiers per user," she told Computerworld. Hansen added this would allow Google to track several location entries, thus leading to her assumption that Google's "anonymous location data" would be considered "personal data" under the European law.

If Google is approached formally about this, it wouldn't be their first run-in with European privacy law. In March, the EU called a company privacy change policy illegal. In Germany specifically, the Hamburg data protection authority said they felt "duped" after the FCC showed Google deliberately captured people's WiFi payload data with its roaming Street View cars back in May.