Google launch event overshadowed by privacy firestorm

Google is faced with a fresh privacy backlash over a glitch that may have exposed data from half a million users, overshadowing the Silicon Valley's launch of a new smartphone and other devices.

The Silicon Valley giant said Monday it shut down its Google+ social network for consumers after it found and fixed a bug exposing private data in as many as 500,000 accounts, but drew fire for initially failing to disclose the incident.

The revelation heightened concerns in Washington on Tuesday over privacy practices by Silicon Valley giants after a series of missteps by Facebook that may have leaked data on millions.

"In the last year, we've seen Google try to evade scrutiny -- both for its business practices and its treatment of user data," Senator Mark Warner said in a statement.

Warner said that despite "consent" agreements with the US Federal Trade Commission with Google and Facebook, "neither company appears to have been particularly chastened in their privacy practices." "It's clear that Congress needs to step in" for privacy protections, he added.

Marc Rotenberg, president of the Electronic Privacy Information Center, said the latest breach suggests the FTC has failed to do its job in protecting user data.

"The Congress needs to establish a data protection agency in the United States," Rotenberg said. "Data breaches are increasing but the FTC lacks the political will to enforce its own legal judgments."
Senator Richard Blumenthal said the news shows that "to truly end this cycle of broken promises, we need a national privacy framework that protects consumers."
Princeton University researcher Arvind Narayanan noted in a tweet that Google revealed a "vulnerability" rather than a data breach but he noted that "Google has no way to know if the vulnerability was exploited in the past -- precisely because of (its) privacy by design."