Internet Privacy Urged By Google

The Internet search engine giant Google has told the UN that it should help guard the privacy of internet users by setting up global regulations.

Google's privacy chief, Peter Fleischer, told the Guardian that unless universal privacy restraints are set up, people will lose faith in the internet and its development will be adversely affected. Mr. Fleischer is due to address a conference of the UN Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization (Unesco) in Strasbourg later today. He is to request that Unesco push for internet privacy standards that span the globe.

He told the paper: "Three-quarters of the countries in the world have no privacy regimes at all and among those that do have laws, many of them were largely adopted before the rise of the internet. "It's said that every time you use a credit card, your details are passed through six different countries."

Meanwhile, Google has announced that it is to sponsor the Lunar X prize, which will award £30 million for landing unmanned machines on the moon and making them carry out specific tasks.