EN Official Journal of the European Union CE 33/220

(2004/C 33 E/224)

WRITTEN QUESTION E-2113/03

by Erik Meijer (GUE/NGL) to the Commission

(25 June 2003)

Subject: Emergence in Europe of a new monopoly on dissemination of information via the Internet and worrying collection of personal data

1. Is the Commission aware that in five years the search engine Google has acquired an increasingly dominant position on the Internet, such that it has practically eliminated all its competitors, in Europe and elsewhere?

2. Is the Commission aware that Google sells search keywords to the highest bidder, so that, for example, in the run-up to the recent elections in Belgium, anyone searching with the Dutch word ‘verziekingen’ (elections) was automatically sent to the site of the Vlaams Blok party?

3. Is the Commission aware that Google News systematically monitors other information sites, and selects and modifies data from them on the basis of unknown criteria of its own choice, and that a European version will soon follow those for America, Australia and India?

4. Is the Commission aware that in the United States Google gives the telephone number of anyone whose name and address are typed in, together with a plan of their neighbourhood and possibly any data that has been gathered about the person over the years?

5. Is the Commission aware that Google takes over businesses specialising in ‘weblogs’, i.e. on-line journals of young people, which can later be used as evidence against them and could follow them all their lives, causing them to lose jobs and making it impossible for them to form relationships?

6. Is the Commission aware that Google's 15 000 or so computers record all individual searches, keep a register of the sites consulted and store this information, so that it is permanently exploitable for marketing and tracking purposes?

7. Does the Commission take the view that, in order to protect citizens' privacy, binding rules should be adopted in this context in order to limit this future information monopoly and the abuses to which it could lead? What initiatives is the Commission taking to this end?

Source: De Volkskrant (Netherlands daily) of 24 May 2003

Answer given by Mr Bolkestein on behalf of the Commission

(7 August 2003)

1. The Commission monitors developments in this market with interest. The Commission notes that there are many Internet search engines available in the market, with a variety of business models. The Commission has not received any complaints about abuse of a dominant position by Google, and as such is not investigating the company.

2. In its web-site http://www.google.com/technology/index.html Google explains the ranking method it uses (number of page links). In addition, it gives the possibility of sponsored links, listed separately. The option mentioned by the Honourable Member (direct link to the highest bidder) does not seem to be available.

3. The Commission has not received any complaints from any affected party (on competition, intellectual property, consumer protection or other grounds) concerning the monitoring or modification of other information sites by Google.

4., 5. and 6. The Commission is aware of the publication of some press articles that refer to alleged practices by Google. To the extent that such practices took place in the Union or concerned European citizens, some of them would fall under the scope of application of the European personal data protection rules. There is no precise evidence of such practices, however, that would currently allow further investigation by the Commission services. What is reported in the press is unclear and in some cases manifestly inaccurate. Google branches established in the Member States fall within the jurisdiction of those Member States.

7. As regards privacy and data protection, in particular, the Commission recalls that, where applicable, the existing legal framework concerning data protection (in particular Directives 95/46/EC (1) and Directive 97/66/EC (2) to be replaced by Directive 2002/58/EC (3)) contain appropriate rules concerning the protection of privacy and the processing of personal data in the European context. Directive 95/46/EC notably requires that processing pursue legitimate purposes. Directive 97/66/EC (and Directive 2002/58/EC) notably include provisions on directories of subscribers to public communications services. The Commission does not currently envisage additional binding rules.

(1) Directive 95/46/EC of the Parliament and of the Council of 24 October 1995 on the protection of individuals with regard to the processing of personal data and on the free movement of such data, OJ L 281, 23.11.1995.

(2) Directive 97/66/EC of the Parliament and of the Council of 15 December 1997 concerning the processing of personal data and the protection of privacy in the telecommunications sector, OJ L 24, 30.1.1998.

(3) Directive 2002/58/EC of the Parliament and of the Council of 12 July 2002 concerning the processing of personal data and the protection of privacy in the electronic communications sector (Directive on privacy and electronic communications), OJ L 201, 31.7.2002.