Google have found themselves at the receiving end of some very heavy handed words of warning.
Data watchdogs from the UK, and nine other countries, have criticised Google's disregard for privacy on their Google Buzz, instant messaging platform, and street view services. The company have been told to incoporate "minimum" privacy principles in future products.
The UK's Information Commissioner, Christophr Grahamm who was recently given the power to levy bigger fines on organisations that breach data protection laws, is among the ten signatories involved in the debate. France, Germany, Ireland, Italy and the Netherlands, New Zealand and Spain have also taken action.
Various organisations have also written en masse to Google's Chief Executive, Eric Schmidt, requesting a response from the company.
Unrest, in this case, stems from the fact that Google users weren't made aware of how to protect their own information before Google went ahead with adding the Google Buzz instant chat format to the one-to-one email system already in place. Google Street View also suffered criticism from watchdogs.
It seems in this instance that Google were operating with implied consent, rather than implicit.
The official statement from Google, has everything you'd expect from a leading PR department:
"We try very hard to be upfront about the data we collect, and how we use it, as well as to build meaningful controls into our products. Google Dashboard, the ads preferences manager, and our data liberation initiative are all good examples of such initiatives."
It's a pretty basic right that individuals should be able to control the use of their own personal information and Google have been called on to incorporate fundamental policy principles in their new services, to provide clear and unambiguous information about privacy, in this case, and in the future.
It's not the first time that social networks have gotten into trouble over user details. Facebook have felt the wrath of data watchdogs more than most but always seem to come out smelling sickly sweet.
But what's really interesting in all this is what it all means for us; the anonymous clickers and keyboard bashers. We will increasingly find ourselves having to consent, or not, for our information to be shared and re-assimilated and be ever more careful about what we post and tweet online.
We'll have to see what happens with Google here. It won't be the last of clampdowns like these for the big boys of the internet.