Our desire is to be completely transparent

The Government launched last week a public discussion on the right to oblivion on the Internet and consult with professionals in the sector. What do you think of the initiative

Peter Fleischer: Imagine a Charter on the right to oblivion we seems to be a good approach. We agree on the fact that a significant effort must be made in terms of education. There where our views diverge, it is on the border between the right to oblivion and freedom of expression. It is very difficult to write a Charter on the right to oblivion while this turns to possible censorship. If I put online a photo of someone, that person has the right to delete this photo This may be obvious in some cases, not at all in others.

Google develops a growing number of different activities, and one wondered more on the amount of information held by the group. What data do you actually Internet users

Alma Whitten: We have three types of information. Firstly those related to Google accounts, on our various services, like Gmail. These are the fields filled in by users and it is possible to manage them via a tool we have in place a few months on the google /dashboard address. Then there is a data connection, left by users in their navigation and sent to our servers. This is the IP address, the date and time of connection, browser and system operations used, the visited URL, and the cookie IDs a small file downloaded from the user's computer when it visits a site and keeps visits carried out by the user, Editor's note. Finally, we have data that does not come from the interaction between the user and our services, such as the information in Google Maps.

Another point of disagreement with the Government seems to relate the information that you collect without the user's knowledge: its location, for example, to be able to deliver targeted ads. The Secretary of State for the digital economy, Nathalie Kosciusko-Morizet mentioned the idea of a red list for users who wish not to receive this type of advertising...

A. w.: it is already possible to do so. We launched a tool that allows, if you want, delete the advertising cookie keeps in memory the sites on which you navigate. It offers you, for example, advertisements on fishing if you visited fishing sites. You can always add other centres of interest via the Google Ads Preferences tool, and choose "opt" out if you want no targeted advertising.

Few people know that it is possible to do so. Perhaps not the put you not enough forward

P. f.: Yes, it is a challenge for us. Our desire is to be completely transparent.

A. w.: tens of thousands of people visit already Google Ads Preferences every day. What is interesting is that about 15 people who use this management tool, one chooses the opt-out, 4 choose Add or remove interests and receive advertisements focused on other areas and 10 do not change. This means that the targeted advertising brings a real service to people.

You recognize that the social network Google Buzz launch was not a success. And, for some, the way you have responded, by correcting the service very quickly, is proof that it was a test on what users were willing to accept personal data. That answer you this

A. w.: given sleepless nights we have passed to fix Google Buzz within three days after the launch, I can tell you that this had not been scheduled!

P. f.: other social networks were not perfect, at their launch. We corrected the fire very quickly. We have contacted the users of Buzz, took the time to listen to criticism both on the content and design, today I think that the product is good.

Your Street View service, which provides photos of the streets at 360 degrees, attracted much criticism, particularly in the United Kingdom and Germany. How do you respect the privacy people taken photo

P. f.: A first filter is implemented automatically: a software recognizes the faces and the floute. Then there is a human control, which allows to see if problems have escaped with the software. Then, it is always possible to contact us, for example if it is not that his house is on Street View. In the day, or even under 48 hours, shooting is removed.

Today, you keep the connection data (address IP, URL, time, etc.) in nine months. Some associations require the reduction of this period. Are you ready to lower it

A. w.: we retain this data for security reasons. They can be used in an investigation, for example.

P. f.: we believe that nine months, today it is a good balance between the issues of security and freedoms. Discussions continue on this point and, of course, the duration of data retention is not frozen in time. If, tomorrow, technology evolves and can reduce this time, we are ready to talk about.

Full interview on lesechos.fr/interview