The Italian Antitrust Authority said
Thursday that it is investigating Google and its parent company
Alphabet because the request for consent that Google submits to
its users to the linking of the services offered "may constitute
a misleading and aggressive commercial practice.
"This request would in fact appear to provide no relevant
information - or would provide it inadequately and imprecisely -
as to the real effect that consent has on Google's use of
personal data of users," the competition authority said.
"The same critical issues would arise with respect to the
variety and number of Google's services for which "combination"
and "cross-use" of personal data may occur, and with respect to
the possibility of modulating (and thus limiting) consent to
only some services.
"The Authority also alleges that Google may use techniques and
methods for requesting consent, and also for setting up the
mechanisms for obtaining consent itself, which could condition
the freedom of choice of the average consumer.
"Indeed, the customer would be induced to take a commercial
decision that he/she would not have taken otherwise, by
consenting to the combination and cross-use of his/her personal
data among the plurality of services offered".
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