EU privacy watchdogs give Google guidelines to change privacy practices

European data privacy regulators handed Google a package of guidelines to help it bring the way it collects and stores user data in line with European Union law after six regulators opened investigations into the internet giant.

The group of European data protection authorities, known as the Article 29 Working Party, sent Google a list of measures it could implement, such as spelling out clearly for what purposes it collects user data and what third party entities would also be able to collect people's information. Regulators in six European countries, Italy, France, Spain, Germany, Britain and the Netherlands, have opened investigations into Google after it consolidated its 60 privacy policies into one and started combining data collected on individual users across its services, including YouTube, Gmail and Google Maps.