Google Changes Privacy Policy

[grnidone]

I'm stunned there isn't already a discussion on this, as the Borg, it seems has gotten bigger...

However, after the new policy comes into effect, user information from most Google products will be treated as a single trove of data, which the company could use for its targeted advertising dollars.

The lawmakers said the announcement raises questions about whether consumers will have enough power to opt-out of data sharing systems. They also asked what security steps are being taken to ensure the safety of customer data.

http://www.reuters.com/article/2012/01/27/us-google-privacy-idUSTRE80P1YC20120127

[rcjordan]

Numbness has set in, G.

Related, perhaps:

A couple of years ago Facebook got on my radar because I kept overhearing middle-aged waitresses and the occasional grandma chattering about sharing their children's pix.  I figured that if (definitely non-technical) waitresses and old ladies were buzzing non-stop about FB in a Southern greasy spoon then FB had breached the tipping point.  TODAY, two women (non-tech) in my office were discussing how they creeped out by the "spying" of both FB and Google.  Maybe there's hope.   

.....Nah!

[rcjordan]

<added>

http://www.pidjin.net/2011/10/10/guantanamora/


hhh

[dougs]

Think that is Google tell the EU to f off in relation to the directive on cookies etc....the war begins



Doug

[Brad]

So now Goog can read my mail and change my SERP to reflect my email content?  Great. 

I really want SERP's about Fwd.Fwd.Fwd.Fwd...   

[ukgimp]

Run two browsers Brad.

[Brad]

Run two browsers Brad.

Good advice.  Although actually, I rarely use Google directly for my own searches only to check relative positions.  For my own stuff I mostly use DuckDuckGo and when that fails Startpage.com which has some privacy.  Of course not everyone can do that but it works for me.

Oldie but goodie: Don't be Evil with Creepy Eric
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Ouof1OzhL8k

[grnidone]

@Brad

I've never seen that.  That is creepy.

[rcjordan]

Google's response on new privacy policy ticks off congresswoman

"Appearing before Bono Mack and the rest of her subcommittee, Pablo Chavez, Google's director of public policy, and Michael Yang, a Google senior counsel, tried to walk through the steps that users can follow to manage their privacy settings. But Bono Mack apparently still found the process cumbersome.

'By being more simple, [the privacy policy] is actually more complicated,' Bono Mack said"

http://news.cnet.com/8301-17939_109-57371165-2/googles-response-on-new-privacy-policy-ticks-off-congresswoman/

Welcome to the world of default settings and opt-outs, Congress.  You're on the right track, but you-still-don't-know-jack.  

<added>
A group of European regulators has written to Google Inc calling on it to halt the introduction of its new privacy policy, saying it needs to investigate whether the proposals sufficiently protect users' personal data.

http://www.reuters.com/article/2012/02/03/eu-google-idUSL5E8D31SC20120203

[rcjordan]

>Google Changes Privacy Policy

Looks like need to change the title to "Google Changes Everyone's Privacy Policy"

"When the IE team heard that Google had bypassed user privacy settings on Safari, we asked ourselves a simple question: is Google circumventing the privacy preferences of Internet Explorer users too? We've discovered the answer is yes: Google is employing similar methods to get around the default privacy protections in IE and track IE users with cookies."

http://blogs.msdn.com/b/ie/archive/2012/02/20/google-bypassing-user-privacy-settings.aspx