Google isn't being 'forthcoming' with Congress on privacy

House lawmakers grilled Google officials for two hours about the company's recent privacy changes, but Rep. Mary Bono Mack (R-CA) said she wasn't satisfied with their answers.

Pablo Chavez, Google's director of public policy, and Michael Yang, a Google senior counsel, answered questions from House Commerce Committee lawmakers, including Reps. Henry Waxman (D-CA), Joe Barton (R-TX), G.K. Butterfield (D-NC) and Marsha Blackburn (R-TN). "At the end of the day, I don't think their answers to us were very forthcoming necessarily in what this really means for the safety of our families and our children," Rep Bono Mack told reporters after the closed-door briefing.

"By being more simple, [the privacy policy] is actually more complicated," Rep Bono Mack said. She said the Google officials gave lawmakers a "thorough walkthrough of the technology that exists" to control privacy settings, but that she remains concerned about users' ability to control the information they share with Google. "The concern of Congress is how much active participation does a user have to do to protect their own privacy," she said. Rep Butterfield emphasized he wants Google to provide a "one-stop" site where users can opt out of tracking across the company's platforms. Google's officials did not fully explain whether users can delete data that the company has collected about them and how long the company keeps the data, Rep Bono Mack said. When asked what she thinks lawmakers should do, she said Congress might not be the answer. But she suggested users might switch to new services "if Google goes too far." Rep Bono Mack said she plans to hold more hearings on privacy issues this year, some of which could focus specifically on Google's changes. "There's a growing angst in the Congress about privacy — there's no question," she said.