Allaying Fears on Google's Privacy Policy
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Google
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By Kirhat
A few days ago, everyone with a Google account (i.e. Gmail, YouTube and Google+ products) received an email on the planned changes to their privacy policies. Not only were account holders caught by surprise, but some US lawmakers expressed concern that it might take away the control its customers have over how data is collected and used.
According to Google, it was unifying 60 of its privacy policies to allow it to treat information from most Google products as a single trove of data, which the company could use for targeted advertising. By consolidating numerous product-specific privacy policies into one comprehensive policy, "we're explaining our privacy commitments to users of those products in 85 percent fewer words," said Pablo Chavez, Google's director of public policy, on the company's public policy blog.
However, a bipartisan group of eight US lawmakers questioned whether the new policy would allow Internet users to opt-out of data-sharing systems and expressed concern about the safety of customer data.
In a letter dated Monday (30 January 2012), Chavez responded directly to the lawmakers' concerns, stressing that, "the updated privacy policy does not allow us to collect any new or additional types of information about users."
The company defended its decision to consolidate the policies, saying it would create a better experience for users, and added that most of its product-specific policies already allowed information to be shared across product lines when users are signed onto their Google accounts.
But the previous varied policies did not allow Google to, for example, recommend cooking videos when a signed on user went to YouTube after searching for recipes on the search engine, the letter said.
"We want to change that so we can create a simpler, more intuitive Google experience—to share more of each user's information with that user as they use various Google services," Chavez said in the letter.
The letter also said the company's products can still be used without signing into a Google account. Google's privacy tools remain in place under the consolidated policy, allowing users to edit information stored in their account, change personalized ad preferences and control how their data is collected and used.
US regulators are already looking into whether the company manipulates its search results to favor its own products, among other issues.
According to Google, it was unifying 60 of its privacy policies to allow it to treat information from most Google products as a single trove of data, which the company could use for targeted advertising. By consolidating numerous product-specific privacy policies into one comprehensive policy, "we're explaining our privacy commitments to users of those products in 85 percent fewer words," said Pablo Chavez, Google's director of public policy, on the company's public policy blog.
However, a bipartisan group of eight US lawmakers questioned whether the new policy would allow Internet users to opt-out of data-sharing systems and expressed concern about the safety of customer data.
In a letter dated Monday (30 January 2012), Chavez responded directly to the lawmakers' concerns, stressing that, "the updated privacy policy does not allow us to collect any new or additional types of information about users."
The company defended its decision to consolidate the policies, saying it would create a better experience for users, and added that most of its product-specific policies already allowed information to be shared across product lines when users are signed onto their Google accounts.
But the previous varied policies did not allow Google to, for example, recommend cooking videos when a signed on user went to YouTube after searching for recipes on the search engine, the letter said.
"We want to change that so we can create a simpler, more intuitive Google experience—to share more of each user's information with that user as they use various Google services," Chavez said in the letter.
The letter also said the company's products can still be used without signing into a Google account. Google's privacy tools remain in place under the consolidated policy, allowing users to edit information stored in their account, change personalized ad preferences and control how their data is collected and used.
US regulators are already looking into whether the company manipulates its search results to favor its own products, among other issues.
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