France punishes Google for breaching privacy laws

After recent discussions in class about companies tracking the web activity of users, the following article caught my interest.

Basically, French authorities ruled Friday that the way Google collects and stores information about its users is a violation of the law and punished the company with a monetary fine. Adding insult to injury, Google was required to post the fine for 48 hours on its website for French customers to see. 

The country's data protection watchdog isn't the only one that thinks Google's activities are problematic. Other European countries including Italy, Britain, Germany, Spain and the Netherlands are going after the company in court, accusing it for breaching their respective privacy laws. 

Wonder if Canadian officials are paying any attention? I hope so because I use Google a lot! If it's happening over there, might it be happening here? 

http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-2554806/Google-forced-advertise-125-000-fine-French-homepage-court-rules-search-giant-violated-users-privacy.html