Lawmakers Press Google on Gmail Privacy -- Update
July 10 2018 - 8:01PM
Dow Jones News
By John D. McKinnon and Douglas MacMillan
WASHINGTON -- Senior lawmakers requested answers from Alphabet
Inc. on Tuesday about privacy questions surrounding Gmail, the
company's popular email service.
In a letter from Senate Commerce Committee Chairman John Thune
(R., S.D.) and two subcommittee chairmen, the lawmakers asked Larry
Page, Alphabet Inc.'s chief executive, to explain the company's
practice of allowing third-party app developers to scan email
contents for commercial purposes. That practice was revealed last
week in The Wall Street Journal.
The lawmakers expressed concern that most consumers don't
understand how app developers may be using data from emails
including, the letter said, "giving access to personal emails to
their employees." The senators said that Google may not be doing
enough to safeguard Gmail data and asked the company to detail all
the instances in which app developers have shared Gmail data with
third parties.
While Google, a unit of Alphabet, a year ago abandoned the
practice of scanning email contents for serving ads, the company
continues to let hundreds of outside developers scan the inboxes of
Gmail users who signed up for email-based services. Those services
commonly use free apps and offers to hook users into giving up
access to their inboxes without clearly stating what data they
collect and what they are doing with it, current and former
employees of these companies told the Journal.
"Ensuring the privacy and security of our users' data is of the
utmost importance," a Google spokeswoman said. "We look forward to
answering the committee's questions."
The senators' letter provides further evidence that
congressional leaders are considering legislation in response to a
spreading controversy over privacy. The concerns include recent
revelations that Facebook Inc. user information was shared with
Cambridge Analytica, a data-analytics firm that had ties to Donald
Trump's presidential campaign.
On Tuesday, the U.K. privacy watchdog, the Information
Commissioner's Office, said it intends to levy a GBP500,000
($663,000) fine on Facebook for its handling of the matter. The
fine, the maximum allowable by the British agency, would mark
Facebook's first financial penalty from an episode that has now
buffeted the company for months.
"As we have said before, we should have done more to investigate
claims about Cambridge Analytica," said Facebook Chief Privacy
Officer Erin Egan, adding that the company is reviewing the report
and will respond soon.
A Cambridge Analytica spokesman has said the company didn't use
Facebook data collected by a psychology professor at the University
of Cambridge during the 2016 U.S. presidential election. The firm
added that it deleted all data it received from the professor's
company after it became clear there had been violations of
Facebook's policies.
The controversy is now spreading beyond Facebook. A House
committee separately on Monday sent letters to Alphabet as well as
Apple Inc., asking about a range of privacy practices, including
the Gmail issue.
The House lawmakers' letter to Mr. Page also said recent reports
indicate that its Android smartphone operating system collects
extensive user-location data and reports it back to Google even
when location services are disabled.
One of the signers of Tuesday's letter, subcommittee Chairman
Jerry Moran (R., Kan.), already has said he is considering joining
an effort by Sen. Richard Blumenthal (D., Conn.) to draft
bipartisan online-privacy legislation.
Tuesday's letter also says that the Senate committee is
considering potential legislation.
Write to John D. McKinnon at john.mckinnon@wsj.com and Douglas
MacMillan at douglas.macmillan@wsj.com
(END) Dow Jones Newswires
July 10, 2018 20:46 ET (00:46 GMT)
Copyright (c) 2018 Dow Jones & Company, Inc.
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