European Union panel probing search engine giant Google over privacy issues

EU spokesman Pietro Petrucci has said in a statement that an independent European Union panel is now investigating whether Google’s search engine service abides by European privacy rules.

Petrucci said that the panel wants the search engine company to address concerns about the company’s practice of storing and retaining user information for up to two years.

Petrucci added: “This group has addressed a letter to Google raising a number of questions.”

Peter Fleischer, Google’s global privacy counsel responded in a statement: “We believe it’s an important part of our commitment to respect user privacy while balancing a number of important factors, such as maintaining security and preventing fraud and abuse.”

he added that the search engine company is committed to engaging in a constructive dialog.