Google to allow users to opt-out of data collection

Google is to offer users the option to opt-out of local data collection.

The search engine firm introduced the clause for owners of wireless access points at the request of the European regulatory authorities.

"Even though the wireless access point signals we use in our location services don't identify people, we think we can go further in protecting people's privacy," Google's global privacy counsel Peter Fleischer wrote in a blog post.

"At the request of several European data protection authorities, we are building an opt-out service that will allow an access point owner to opt-out from Google's location services. Once opted out, our services will not use that access point to determine users' locations."

Google has been criticised for its data collection policies of late. In April, the California-based company was sued by two Michigan women for gathering data from their Android smartphones.

The firm claims that it "publicly broadcast[s] wi-fi data from wireless access points to improve [its] location-based services", such as Google Maps. This method is said to pinpoint a device's location quickly "without using too much power".

In the UK, Google is being pressed by the coalition government to block illegal filesharing websites from its search results.

Google finalised a deal with Intel to optimise the Android operating system for the chipmaker's processors earlier today.