Google appeals against French data watchdog over privacy policy fine

Shameful court-ordered 'we were naughty' homepage notice on hold - for now

Google has appealed against France's data protection watchdog, which said last week that the ad giant had failed to comply with its privacy laws - the result was a paltry, yet maximum, fine of €150,000.

French newspaper Le Figaro reported today that Google had opposed the sanctions from Commission Nationale de l’Informatique et des Libertés (CNIL), that also included requiring the company to publish a 48-hour notification statement on the google.fr site within eight days of the ruling.

Mountain View apparently filed its appeal application with France's Conseil d'Etat on Monday.

The move may have bought Google some time: it means that the fine and temporary notification to its French users that it had violated data protection laws in the country will be suspended.

France's highest administrative jurisdiction - Conseil d'Etat - could make its decision within the next week, according to Le Figaro.

CNIL opened an investigation into Google's brassy move – on behalf of the European Union's Article 29 Working Party – to determine whether the company had violated data laws when it made the changes to its service in March 2012, despite indignation from some of its users about the strategy. ®