Google Maps for iOS was launched this week in the App Store and although users welcomed it with open arms, it could violate European data protection legislation. It all starts with the screen shown above, a screen where Google has left the option of sending anonymous feedback checked to improve the services offered in the application, and here we are talking about information on locations, traffic, etc. Those from Macworld quotes the commissioner of the German center for the protection of privacy, saying that European laws oblige those from Google not to leave the option of anonymous data sending activated (checked) by default. Although the option is active by default, users can deactivate it from within the application, but European law says that things must be exactly the opposite, users having to activate this option from the application, not deactivate it.
When users install Google Maps on their iPhone, the option to share location data with Google is switched on by default. By doing this, Google violates European data protection law, according to a German data protection watchdog. However, the option box next to the text is switched on by default, which isn't allowed by European data protection law, said Marit Hansen, deputy privacy and information commissioner at the Independent Center for Privacy Protection Schleswig-Holstein, Germany, in an e-mail.
Apart from the incorrect implementation of this option, the German commissioner claims that Google does not protect the anonymity of users when collecting data through applications. It seems that Google collects the information in a way that identifies the users from whom it is received, this is illegal in Europe, but Google doesn't really care. Finally, Google Maps could be updated soon so as not to activate the automatic data sending option by default, otherwise the application could be withdrawn by Apple.
