'Recent reports indicate that Google does not adequately safeguard the confidential information it obtains,' the Electronic Privacy Information Center (Epic) said in the complaint filed with the FTC.

Epic said it was petitioning the commission, which is responsible for consumer protection issues, to probe 'Google's Cloud Computing Services to determine the adequacy of the privacy and security safeguards.'

Cloud computing services provided by Google include Gmail, the Internet search giant's email program; Google Docs, its online word processing and spreadsheet service; Picasa, a software application for digital photos; and Google Calendar.

In its complaint, Epic cited an incident with Google Docs this month in which the Mountain View, California company acknowledged that the privacy of some digital documents had been compromised.

Google Docs product manager Jennifer Mazzon said at the time that a 'very small percentage of users shared some of their documents inadvertently' because of an unspecified 'bug.' -- AFP