Welcoming the European Commission statement "about our efforts to improve data privacy for Internet users," saying, "Particularly important is the Commission's shift and acknowledgement of the need to balance privacy needs with innovation," Peter Fleischer, Google's Global Privacy Counsel said in a statment:

"Google welcomes the European Commission's reaction to our efforts to improve privacy. This reflects a positive dialogue with European authorities. We appreciate the Commission's commitment to maintaining the capacity of search engines to innovate in order to keep up with the Web's exponential growth by delivering better, more relevant search results. We will continue to work closely with the Commission and data protection authorities throughout Europe to bolster confidence in Internet privacy.

In the ten years since Google's launch, the web has exploded from an estimated 26 million to more than a trillion pages. We have concentrated on making this information available and accessible to all. But as Google has grown into a global resource, we recognize the need to provide ever-better protections for the privacy of our users. In an industry like ours that relies on trust, we know we must compete on the best privacy practices as well as the best web search, and just as Google pioneered search, we aim to set the standard on respecting privacy."