Reuters: Technology News: Regulators probe Google privacy breach: report

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Regulators probe Google privacy breach: report Mar 17th 2012, 02:14 Tweet Share this Email Print Related News U.S. regulators probe Google privacy breach: report 7:54pm EDT Facebook touts success in revamped pages for brands Tue, Mar 13 2012 Yahoo sues Facebook for infringing 10 patents Tue, Mar 13 2012 Web giants' consumer privacy strategy faces hard sell Sat, Mar 10 2012 Exclusive: Google leans on developers to use payment service Fri, Mar 9 2012 Analysis & Opinion Silicon Valley's undeserved moral exceptionalism Apple, the new iPad, and being 'sanely great' An employee plays pool at the Google campus near Venice Beach, in Los Angeles, California January 13, 2012. Credit: Reuters/Lucy Nicholson By Liana B. Baker Fri Mar 16, 2012 10:14pm EDT (Reuters) - The Federal Trade Commission is examining whether Google deceived consumers by planting so-called Internet cookies in Apple's Web browser without users' consent, Bloomberg reported on Friday. The agency is investigating whether the cookies allowed it to aim advertising at users of Apple's Safari browser, and also whether Google violated other rules involving consumers' consent, Bloomberg cited sources as saying. A Google representative responded in an email to Reuters that the company created a temporary communication link from Safari with Google's servers that helped ascertain whether Safari users were also signed into Google and had opted for personalized ads and other content. However, the Safari browser contained functionality that then enabled other Google advertising cookies to be set on the browser, the email said. "We will of course cooperate with any officials who have questions," the email said, adding that the company has been removing these advertising cookies from Safari browsers. Bloomberg also reported that the FTC is looking at whether Google violated a consent decree with the commission signed last year. The FTC did not immediately respond to a request for comment late Friday. Bloomberg reported on Thursday that the FTC had asked Apple for more information regarding how it incorporates Google's search function into its products. The Internet search giant has been accused of using its clout in the search market to shut out rivals, like travel search, by putting them low in search results. In January, regulators expanded a probe to include Google+, the search giant's new social networking tool, which launched last June and offers many of the capabilities available on Twitter and on Facebook. (Reporting By Liana B. Baker; Editing by Gary Hill) Related Quotes and News Company Price Related News Tweet this Link this Share this Digg this Email Reprints We welcome comments that advance the story through relevant opinion, anecdotes, links and data. If you see a comment that you believe is irrelevant or inappropriate, you can flag it to our editors by using the report abuse links. Views expressed in the comments do not represent those of Reuters. For more information on our comment policy, see http://blogs.reuters.com/fulldisclosure/2010/09/27/toward-a-more-thoughtful-conversation-on-stories/ Comments (0) Be the first to comment on reuters.com. Add yours using the box above.

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