Google has been working on its plans to digitize a vast number of books and offer them to the public for a long time. The plan was criticized by many authors and privacy advocacy groups. The FTC has also criticized Google's plans and has issued a letter to the search giant on the FTC website this week urging Google to develop a privacy policy specific to Google books.

Reuters reports that the FTC letter asks Google to work on "limiting secondary uses of data collected through Google Books, including uses that would be contrary to reasonable consumer expectations." These secondary uses are reportedly methods that would allow Google to serve ads to readers based on the books they have previously read.

The FTC director of consumer Protection, David Vladeck wrote, "We also agree that it is important for Google to develop a new privacy policy, specific to Google Books, that will apply to the current product, set forth commitments for future related services and features, and preserve commitments made in the existing privacy policy."

FTC Chairman Jon Leibowitz issued a separate statement reports Reuters that said, "The Google Books initiative could provide a wealth of benefits for consumers, yet it also raises serious privacy challenges because of the vast amount of user information that could be collected."

The settlement between Google and the plaintiffs in the copyright infringement case had Google paying $125 million to create a Book Rights Registry where authors and publishers could register works and receive compensation. The settlement and Google's plans to digitize literary works is being fought by Amazon, Microsoft, and Yahoo.