Google Agrees to Spot Checks by Italian Privacy Regulators

Google’s latest agreement with a European privacy regulator includes spot checks at its US headquarters to monitor how Google is complying with an order to improve its privacy policy, add new opt-outs for targeted advertising, and disclose how long it keeps users’ data. The Italian data-privacy authority outlined a process for Google to comply with the country’s privacy laws and an order imposed on the company in July.

Google has until Jan. 15, 2016 to comply. A spokesman for the Italian authority said this is the first time in Europe that Google will be subject to regular checks to monitor progress. The regulator will get quarterly updates from Google and the ability to send a privacy officer for “on-the-spot checks” at Google’s Mountain View (CA) offices. The regulator hasn’t decided yet how often it will visit the campus, the spokesman said.