Google should have been fined $1B over privacy policy, says EU justice chief

When France’s privacy regulator fined Google(s goog) €150,000 ($204,000) over its unified privacy policy, it was the biggest fine the national watchdog could muster. According to EU justice chief Viviane Reding, however, it was “pocket money” that would be vastly outweighed by the amount Google could be fined under upcoming EU-wide data protection legislation. “Europe needs to get serious,” she said in a speech, noting that the new law would allow fines of up to 2 percent of global turnover — $1 billion in Google’s case – and maybe actually lead the targets to change their ways. Guess she’s still mad at Google’s global privacy counsel calling the first, much-lobbied draft of her legislation “dead”.