Storyline: Google Privacy

Jan

2012

03:58

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Google Revamps Its Myriad Privacy Guidelines Into One Document

The search giant says a move away from its more than 70 documents that cover its privacy policies will make things simpler and more transparent to users.

Google Revamps Its Myriad of Privacy Guidelines Into One Document Google is clear cutting its current forest of privacy policies.

The search giant currently has more than 70 documents covering privacy policies--and that's after it trimmed them significantly in 2010. It now plans on consolidating them all into a single, general use document by March 1.

By the reduction, Google hopes to not only reduce word counts for readers, make explanations clearer and eliminate legal "gloop," but to also unify a user's information across all its products, it said in a video on the policy changes. Whether you're in YouTube, Gmail, Google Docs, or any other product offered by Big G, you'll be treated as a single user.

Here's what Google said in its video:

Benefits/Downsides to Users

If you're Google, the single-user treatment can have some benefits to you. For example, if you have an appointment in Google Calendar, when the app alerts you about it, it can also tell you if you're going to be late for the meeting based on location and traffic information it gathers from other Google apps.

On the other hand, some people may find it creepy that Google is keeping tabs on their locations and appointments.

Google also maintains the single-user approach will allow it to deliver better search results to you. The more it knows about you, it reasons, the more likely it will know that when you type something like "jaguar" into a search, you're looking for a car, not a cat, or vice versa.

And of course, the more Google knows about you, the better it will know what you want to buy, so the search giant won't waste your time placing ads on a search results page for things you're not interested in purchasing.

Facebook: The Elephant in Google's Living Room?

Google vs. Facebook on privacy In announcing the new policy changes, Google didn't mention Facebook, but, like the proverbial elephant in the room, the social network was there between the lines.

"We remain committed to data liberation so if you want to take your information elsewhere, you can," Google Product and Engineering Director of Privacy Alma Whitten wrote in a company blog. Facebook has had trouble in the past over its claims to own all its users' information.

"We don’t sell your personal information, nor do we share it externally without your permission except in very limited circumstances like a valid court order," Whitten said. Facebook is known for its generous data-sharing policies.

"We try hard to be transparent about the information we collect, and to give you meaningful choices about how it is used," Whitten added. That statement is a slap at Facebook's penchant for using its users' names and images to promote any product they "endorse" on the service.

Follow freelance technology writer John P. Mello Jr. and Today@PCWorld on Twitter.

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Jan

2012

09:42

Google Privacy Policy Claims Challenged by Watchdog

SafeGov disputes the Internet search leader's claims that the changes won't affect government workers using Google apps.

By John P. Mello Jr.

Google's privacy policy changes have caught the attention of an independent watchdog of the federal cloud that is worried about security risks for government workers.

Image courtesy of GoogleSafeGov disputes the Internet search leader's claims that the changes won't affect government workers using Google apps.

Google announced changes in its privacy policies Tuesday that it says are aimed at simplifying them. Part of that simplification includes sharing its users' data across all its services so it can be used to tailor delivery of those services, as well as advertising, to those users.

Following that announcement, SafeGov raised an alarm and called on Google not to apply the changes to workers using Google's government apps. SafeGov argued the changes created privacy and security risks for those workers.

Writing in a company blog on Thursday, Google's vice president for its enterprise business, Amit Singh, said SafeGov's concerns were unwarranted.

Google Privacy Checklist: What to Do Before Google's Privacy Policy Changes on March 1

If you use Gmail, Google Docs, or any other popular G-service, you’re about to surrender a lot more personal information to the Googleplex...unless you take these steps to prevent it.

By Nick Mediati

Google privacy We've been talking about it for weeks, but the big day is almost here: On March 1, Google will implement its new privacy policy and terms of service, unifying 70 separate privacy policies and extending them across most of Google's offerings.

This grand consolidation means that all of your Google account data will live in a single database that every Google service can access. Google Maps will have access to your Gmail data, which will have access to your YouTube history, and so on. Google insists that this change will ultimately benefit users, but privacy advocacy groups such as the Electronic Frontier Foundation fear that users will lose control over the personal data they've shared with Google.

If you'd like to exert control over your Google-based data, you still have time to act before March 1. Google's privacy settings can be tricky to navigate--the privacy Dashboard doesn't provide full access to all privacy settings, and Google's Data Liberation tool doesn't support everything yet. But these tips should help limit what Google can find out about you.

Check the Dashboard

Your first destination is Google Dashboard. It provides an overview of the information Google has stored on your account across many of its most popular services. To get started, go to google.com/dashboard and log in with your Google account (typically an email address). There, you can see much of the data that Google has on you--from your Google+ account to your Gmail account.

Google Defends Privacy Changes as Questions Mount

While Google touts its new policy as good for users, others argue that the real beneficiaries are advertisers.

By John P. Mello Jr.

Following a flurry of criticism over its privacy policy revamp, Google is attempting to clear up misconceptions about its actions.

Users still have control over what information Google sees; Google is not collecting any more data about users than it has in the past; and users can use as much or as little as they want of Google, Google Policy Manager Betsy Masiello declares in a company blog on Thursday.

She explains that a number of Google services -- search, maps, and YouTube, for example -- can be used without persons identifying themselves through a login. For services that require logins, a number of tools and options are available to reduce the data being collected by Google.

Google isn't collecting more data from its users under the new policy, Masiello maintains. "Our new policy simply makes it clear that we use data to refine and improve your experience on Google—whichever products or services you use," she writes. "This is something we have already been doing for a long time."

"We’re making things simpler and we’re trying to be upfront about it," she adds. "Period."

Google's New Privacy Policy Won't Apply to Government Workers

Google clarified its new policy after criticism from an independent watchdog.

By John P. Mello Jr.

Google’s has clarified its new privacy policy to say that it will not apply to government workers. The announcement came after Google was criticized by SafeGov.org, an independent watchdog.

Google had hailed its new policy as a boon for its users. But the changes, which allow it to combine information about users pulled from the entire range of its online products, raise serious privacy concerns for government users of Google's apps, two SafeGov experts, Jeff Gould and Karen Evans, declared in a statement.

Google's New Privacy Policy Won't Apply to Government Workers "These issues should not be overlooked by public sector officials who use the cloud or are looking to move to the cloud," they added. They called on Google to clarify where its consumer product line ends and its enterprise products begin.

Google has fought hard to grow its government business. That fight included a nasty war of words with Microsoft that ended up in the courts.

What's more, the company has seen its attempts to grab government business outside the United States rebuffed. In Norway, for example, that nation's data protection authorities banned public sector organizations from using Google apps because they could put its citizens' data at risk.

Google's New Privacy Policy: How to Stay Off the Grid

If you are concerned about Google tracking you through your search habits, it is pretty straightforward to turn off the feature.

By Ian Paul

Google's New Privacy Policy: How to Stay Off the Grid The Electronic Frontier Foundation is recommending that privacy conscious users delete their Google Web history before the search giant's new unified privacy policy kicks in. Google Web history is Google's online log of all your search activity, and some browsing history.

Starting March 1, Google's new privacy policy will bring together 60 disparate privacy documents into one umbrella policy. After that time you will be treated as one single user across almost all Google products. The company, as a result, will be able to deliver all kinds of new levels of personalization such as location-based schedule reminders and better targeted ads. But privacy advocates are concerned that Google's new policy will give users less control over their data.

If you don't want Google tracking your searches, here's what you need to know.

What is Google Web history

Google's New Privacy Policy: How to Stay Off the Grid When you are signed in to your Google account, the search giant keeps a log of all your searches and any websites you visit when you click on a search result. If you use Google's browser toolbar for Firefox, you can also choose to have every website you visited logged by Google similar to how your browser keeps track of your browsing history. Web history is enabled by default for all Google users.

The company says enabling Web history allows Google to use your data to offer more relevant and personalized search results (such as the new feature that integrates Google+ data into your searches), filtered results based on your Web history, and personalized predictions in Google's autocomplete feature. Search data also helps Google deliver personalized advertising.

Google Celebrates Data Privacy Day…Really?

The personal-information-collecting brute is joining the celebration of Data Privacy Day by touting its two-step identity verification and opt-out option for ad-tracking cookies.

By Jeff Bertolucci

Artwork: Chip TaylorYes, Data Privacy Day exists, in case you weren't aware, and Google is trumpeting the special occasion with comforting words on its Public Policy Blog. You may find it odd that Google is banging the privacy drum -- after all, the search giant is a personal-information-collecting brute, a company routinely excoriated by consumer advocates and government officials for its lackadaisical attitude toward personal privacy.

And who could forget the creepozoid comments from Google's soon-to-be-ex CEO Eric Schmidt, who told CNN last year that people who don't want their homes photographed for Google Street View could "just move." Schmidt also passed along this comforting gem to The Atlantic: "We know where you are. We know where you've been. We can more or less know what you're thinking about." Yikes.

Of course, Schmidt has since been kicked upstairs to "executive chairman," and Google co-founder Larry Page will take over day-to-day operations in April. So has Google changed its views on personal privacy, or is Data Privacy Day merely a PR ploy?

More Controls

"On this Data Privacy Day, a major focus for Google is on creating ways for people to manage and protect their data. We've built tools like the Google Dashboard, the Ads Preferences Manager and encrypted search, and we're always working on further ideas for providing transparency, control and security to empower our users," writes Alma Whitten, Google's director of privacy, in a Friday blog post.

Just this week, Google released a Chrome browser extension that lets users permanently opt-out of ad-tracking cookies, Whitten adds. And soon it'll expand the availability of its optional two-step verification, which requires Google account holders to have access to their phone (in addition to a user name and password) when they sign in.

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