Quantcast
Subscribe to magazine
0
0

Google Bows to Pressure, Adds 'Privacy' Link to Home Page

Peter Sayer, IDG News Service

Friday, July 04, 2008 4:30 AM PDT

For Google, ready Privacy: That could be the subliminal message Google wants to send by replacing its name on its famously spartan home page with a link to its privacy policy.

Last month, privacy organizations wrote to Google CEO Eric Schmidt asking the company to link to its privacy policy from its home page. Including the link on the home page is good practice -- and also mandated by California law, the organizations said.

On Thursday, Google acceded to the request, putting the word "Privacy" at the foot of its home page and linking it to its privacy information pages. The link replaces the company's name next to the copyright notice, leaving the number of words on the home page unchanged.

Google had previously declined to make the change to its home page, saying that users appreciate the lack of clutter there. Microsoft and Yahoo both include privacy links on their search pages, while Ask.com added a link to its privacy policy on June 18.

The order to remove the company's name to make way for the privacy link came right from the company's founders, Vice President of Search Products and User Experience Marissa Mayer explained in a posting to the company's blog.

"Larry and Sergey told me we could only add this to the homepage if we took a word away -- keeping the 'weight' of the homepage unchanged at 28," she said.

That figure holds only if you have signed out of your Google account and are viewing the basic U.S. home page in English, see no promotional line running beneath the search box, see no invitation to make Google your home page because you have already done so, and count "©2008 Google" (now "©2008 Privacy") as two words.

Community Comments

PC World's Marketplace

PC World's Free Whitepapers

Web News
  • Web - October 7, 2008
    A Decade of Internet Superstars: Where Are They Now? Whatever happened to the Evolution of Dance guy or that kid who loved Britney Spears so much he cried for her under his sheet? We'll fill you in on what happened to them and other Web celebrities when their 15 minutes of fame ended.
  • Web-based Applications - October 7, 2008
    LinkedIn: The Network Effect Revisited You've signed up for LinkedIn, because everyone says it's the primary business social network. But to whom should you connect? According to a few power users, there are a few common approaches, most of which are different than what you'd do on Facebook.
  • Internet - October 7, 2008
    Why Citizen Journalism Doesn’t Work Steve Jobs is not dying -- but fact-checking is on life-support.
  • Internet - October 7, 2008
    Usenet: Not Dead Yet Usenet, a source of community and file exchange for many long-term users, is now being targeted by some of the major ISPs. Is it on its last legs?
More

Latest Expert Blogs

All Blogs
Featured Resources

Premier Content From Our Sponsors

  • HP LaserJet Printers
    HP LaserJet Printers Satisfy your office needs by combining fax, copy and scan capabilities with high-quality laser printing.
  • CDW Virtualization Center
    CDW Security CenterHow does your network security compare to those of your peers? Click here to find out...
Featured Whitepapers

White papers, case studies and product info from top brands

Featured Webcasts

Watch webcast presentations and videos from industry thought leaders on today's most important business and technology topics. For free.

More webcasts