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Google and Facebook get sued over their ‘incomprehensible’ privacy policies

Published Mar 27th, 2014 3:48PM EDT
Google Facebook Privacy Lawsuit

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Have you ever tried to really read through Google and Facebook’s privacy policies? If you have then you might find that your eyes start to glaze over after just a few paragraphs. Now ZDNet reports that French consumers group UFC-Que Choisir has filed a lawsuit against Google, Facebook and Twitter for having privacy policies that are “illegible” and “incomprehensible” to the average user and that should be rewritten to make more sense. UFC-Que Choisir has slammed all three companies in the past for writing opaque policies that give the companies a lot of leeway for potentially violating their users’ privacy.

“If the companies are getting greedy when it comes to data, they’re on a diet when it comes to taking responsibility,” the group says. “They’re abdicating all responsibility for their quality of service, which is provided ‘as is,’ and for the integrity of their data and content.”

Whether UFC-Que Choisir can really succeed in rallying consumers to its cause is uncertain at this point since Google, Facebook and Twitter have encountered many privacy controversies in the past and their users haven’t found the strength to bolt their services just yet.

Brad Reed
Brad Reed Staff Writer

Brad Reed has written about technology for over eight years at BGR.com and Network World. Prior to that, he wrote freelance stories for political publications such as AlterNet and the American Prospect. He has a Master's Degree in Business and Economics Journalism from Boston University.