FTC urged to probe security levels of Gmail, Picasa

Privacy groups are urging the Federal Trade Commission to launch an investigation into cloud computing services and in particular, those owned by Google.

The Electronic Privacy Information Center (EPIC) has petitioned the FTC to investigate privacy concerns over Google's swarm of online services. FTC had already scheduled meetings to discuss if the advantages of cloud computing justify the risks.

In the petition, EPIC asked that services like Gmail, Google Docs, Picasa, and Google's other cloud computing services be investigated to determine "the adequacy of the privacy and security safeguards."

"Recent reports indicate that Google does not adequately safeguard the confidential information that it obtains," wrote EPIC.

 The privacy organization cited a recent problem Google Docs had which made certain documents—that were previously marked as private by their owners—public and available everyone, despite repeated claims from Google that the data is safe and secure.

EPIC also highlighted a number of reports from security experts about vulnerabilities in Google's services between 2005 and now.