Google's privacy director set to retire

Alma Whitten, director of privacy at Google, is set to step down after two and a half years in the post, and a total of 10 years at the web giant.

Whitten was appointed to the post in October 2010 shortly after two massive privacy breaches at Google.

The web giant was accused of taking data from Wi-Fi networks without authorisation when collecting mapping information via its Street View cars. Google claimed this was the work of a rogue engineer, but after a three-year investigation had to pay out $7 million to 38 states in the US.

Google also had to shutdown its Buzz social networking platform after it was deemed to have severe privacy flaws.

After launch, Buzz publically disclosed the names of Gmail contacts a user had frequently emailed or talked to, this was done by default and Google was severely criticised.

The service was discontinued in 2011, after Google had to pay out $8.5 million to settle a class action lawsuit. The firm also had to make a deal with the FTC, which required it to have privacy audits twice a year.

Google continues to face privacy challenges, especially with the firm's forthcoming Google Glass products. They are likely to be at the forefront of privacy discussions as they will allow users to take images and videos of their surroundings.

Privacy issues surrounding Google Glass will be something Whitten's successor, Lawrence You, will have to deal with.

You is an engineer who has worked at Google for eight years. He is based in Mountain View, where many of these privacy violations have stemmed from.

In a statement, Google thanked Whitten for all her work and said her team will continue to push on.

"During her 10 years at Google, Alma has done so much to improve our products and protect our users. The privacy and security teams, and everyone else at Google, will continue this hard work to ensure that our users' data is kept safe and secure," the firm said.