VZCZCXRO3376
PP RUEHAG RUEHDF RUEHIK RUEHLZ RUEHROV
DE RUEHFR #0530/01 0401424
ZNR UUUUU ZZH
P 091424Z FEB 07
FM AMEMBASSY PARIS
TO RUEHC/SECSTATE WASHDC PRIORITY 4838
RUEAFCC/FCC WASHDC PRIORITY
RUCPDOC/DEPARTMENT OF COMMERCE WASHDC PRIORITY
RUEAWJA/DEPARTMENT OF JUSTICE WASHDC PRIORITY
INFO RUCNMEM/EU MEMBER STATES COLLECTIVE PRIORITY

UNCLAS SECTION 01 OF 02 PARIS 000530 
 
SIPDIS 
 
SENSITIVE 
SIPDIS 
 
STATE FOR EB/CIP, EUR/WE, AND EUR/ERA 
DEPT PLEASE PASS TO USTR JMCHALE, KSCHAGRIN, AND CHINKLEY 
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COMMERCE FOR NTIA CSPECK AND ITA JBURTON 
JUSTICE FOR KWILLNER, JHORVATH, TBURROWS 
DEPT PLEASE PASS TO FTC FOR HSTEVENSON 
 
E.O. 12958: N/A 
TAGS: ECPS ETRD ECON KIPR FR
SUBJECT: GOOGLE WARNS OF GROWING DATA PRIVACY CONCERNS IN FRANCE AND 
IN THE EU 
Summary 
------- 
 
¶1.  (SBU) Google tells us that it faces several liability and public 
relations issues because its customers' data are stored in the U.S. 
Potential business customers are nervous about storing data on 
U.S.-based servers where U.S. law enforcement officials can easily 
gain access and where tougher European privacy laws would not 
protect against its wide distribution.  In Europe, Google faces an 
increasing number of demands from law enforcement to provide data on 
customers that have data on its U.S. servers, even though this 
information is not stored in France.  Google is afraid of resulting 
liability issues and says that the U.S. and EU need to agree on how 
to handle such law enforcement requests.  End Summary. 
 
Google's expansion in France and in Europe 
------------------------------------------ 
 
¶2.  (SBU) On February 6, 2007, Econoff met three officials from 
Google's Paris office: Europe Privacy Counsel Peter Fleischer, 
Corporate Development Manager Olivier Esper, and France Legal 
Counsel Yoram Elkaim.  They were upbeat about Google's recent 
expansion in France, where their Paris office staff doubled from 60 
to 120 in 2006.  Fleischer said their office would double again to 
240 in 2007.  Google would soon launch its web-based e-mail service 
(gmail) in France, making it available to everyone, rather than to 
those introduced by members. 
 
Dealing with the "grey zone" 
---------------------------- 
 
¶3. (SBU) According to Fleischer, Google offers two primary services: 
 its search engine acts as a portal and index to the World Wide Web, 
and its data centers act as a host for content, such as blogs or 
videos.  As content host, the most profitable area was the corporate 
business sector, in which Google presented a package of services, 
software, and storage facilities for data needs.  At present, Google 
stores such data on U.S. servers, which presented public relations 
challenges.  Potential commercial customers were concerned about the 
integrity of data since U.S. law enforcement requests were usually 
less specific than European requests.  Additionally, European 
customers thought that the U.S. legal system did not protect the 
data to the same extent as in Europe.  Fleischer (an American) 
thought it essential that the U.S. and EU reach agreement on law 
enforcement data sharing.  He said that lack of such agreement was 
redounding on U.S. industry, as negative perceptions about how the 
USG treated data worsened. 
 
¶4. (SBU) Elkaim continued that Google, as all other Internet 
Providers, did not control content, merely infrastructure (except 
for those services which are licensed or owned by Google, such as 
Google Earth, which hosts satellite photos).  Yet, French law 
enforcement officials often asked Google for the identities of those 
who host specific content or the identities of specific e-mail 
users.  In both cases, the local police and Google were frustrated 
because the firm's European offices had to request the information 
from its Palo Alto headquarters, which took time. 
 
¶5. (SBU) Fleisher noted that the U.S. and EU needed to agree on what 
law enforcement requests were appropriate and how to field such 
requests.  Otherwise, U.S. Internet firms in Europe could face 
liability issues.  The present law enforcement exchange mechanisms - 
letters rogatory, information exchange through Mutual Legal 
Assistance Treaties (MLATs), and other government-to-government 
communication - were too slow to address Internet-related law 
enforcement issues since websites and blogs could be removed 
overnight.  "We need to come out of the grey zone," Peter Fleischer 
said, "and out of the old system."  Google fears that as it markets 
a broader range of services to French and other European firms, 
including hosting spreadsheets and business proprietary information 
all stored in the U.S., the confidentiality issue will become more 
important. 
 
¶6. (SBU) Google said that it was facing a European "misperception" 
of new U.S. law enforcement legislation.  A proposal to retain data 
for two years was likely to feed into fears about data misuse.  To 
deal with EU sensitivities about data, Google would eventually 
increase the number of data centers in Europe so that European data 
did not need to reside in the U.S. if these issues remained 
unresolved.  However, Google believed this investment would only 
need to take place if there was a continuing lack of consensus on 
how law enforcement should treat data.   This would be "a weird 
 
PARIS 00000530  002 OF 002 
 
 
solution to a problem that needed to be solved in a different way." 
Google asserted that there was a need for international 
understanding on how web hosts should cooperate with local 
authorities, and which legal regimes should apply.  In its view only 
laws where data was hosted should apply; otherwise, Google and 
others would be liable to provide any government that wanted 
information on an individual anywhere in the world. 
 
A Cultural Challenge 
-------------------- 
 
¶7. (SBU) Google also raised the French concern about the 
omnipresence of U.S. culture in French society, citing President 
Jacques Chirac's support of the creation of an online digital 
library to rival one planned by Google.  The officials also noted 
another decision in 2005 to help fund "Quaero," a new European 
internet search engine to rival Google and Yahoo.  At the time, 
Chirac argued, "We're engaged in a global competition for 
technological supremacy.  In France, in Europe, it's our power 
that's at stake."  Google's public relations challenge, Fleischer 
noted, was to show the French that Google was enhancing access to 
French culture, for instance, by making out-of-print French books 
available on a worldwide basis. 
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