U.S. senators asks Google to explain delay in disclosing vulnerability
(Adds Senate saying it may call Google to testify, Democratic
letter to FTC)
By David Shepardson
Oct 11 (Reuters) - Three influential Republican U.S.
senators on Thursday asked Alphabet Inc's Google unit
to explain why it delayed disclosing vulnerabilities with its
Google+ social network.
Google said this week it would shut down the consumer
version of Google+ and tighten its data sharing policies after
revealing that the private profile data of at least 500,000
users may have been exposed to hundreds of external developers.
The letter from Senator John Thune, who chairs the Commerce
Committee, and two other senators who chair subcommittees -
Jerry Moran and Roger Wicker - asked Google to explain a
reported delay in disclosing the issue.
"Google must be more forthcoming with the public and
lawmakers if the company is to maintain or regain the trust of
the users of its services," the letter said.
The company did not immediately comment.
The letters asked whether the vulnerability was revealed
previously to any federal agencies, including the Federal Trade
Commission, and if there were "similar incidents which have not
been publicly disclosed?"
Google Chief Executive Sundar Pichai agreed last month to
testify before a House of Representatives panel in November
after meeting with lawmakers.
Thune said in an interview that the Senate may also call
Pichai to testify.
On Wednesday, three Democratic senators wrote the FTC asking
them to investigate Google+. In 2012, Google agreed to pay a
then-record $22.5 million fine to settle FTC charges it
misrepresented to Apple Safari Internet browser users that it
would not place tracking "cookies" or serve them targeted ads.
Google acknowledged it had made prior mistakes in privacy
issues in written testimony before the Senate Commerce Committee
last month but did not disclose the Google+ issue.
The three Republicans said they were "especially
disappointed" with the failure of Google's chief privacy
officer, Keith Enright, to disclose the issue.
The three Republicans asked Google to turn over a memo,
reported by the Wall Street Journal earlier this week, that said
that a factor in not disclosing the issue earlier was that it
would draw "immediate regulatory interest" and "almost
(guarantee)" that Pichai would have to testify before Congress.
They called the memo "troubling."
Congress and the Trump administration are looking at ways of
creating new national privacy protections. Facebook Inc
has acknowledged it failed to protect the data of some 87
million users that was shared with now-defunct political data
firm Cambridge Analytica.
Massive breaches of data privacy have compromised the
personal information of millions of U.S. internet and social
media users. These include notable breaches at large retailers
and credit reporting agency Equifax Inc.
(Reporting by David Shepardson; Editing by Dan Grebler and
Jonathan Oatis)
First Published: 2018-10-11 17:45:00
Updated 2018-10-11 21:32:56
© 2019 Thomson Reuters. All rights reserved. Reuters content is the intellectual property of Thomson Reuters or its third party content providers. Any copying, republication or redistribution of Reuters content, including by framing or similar means, is expressly prohibited without the prior written consent of Thomson Reuters. Thomson Reuters shall not be liable for any errors or delays in content, or for any actions taken in reliance thereon. "Reuters" and the Reuters Logo are trademarks of Thomson Reuters and its affiliated companies.