Google’s new privacy policy went into affect yesterday, with many still questioning what effects it has on average internet users.
According to Google, not much has changed. Pablo Chavez, Google’s director of public policy, defended the new privacy policy in a letter to congress, saying:
“The main change in the updated privacy policy is for users signed into Google accounts. Individuals don’t need to sign in to use many of our services including search, Maps and YouTube. If a user is signed in, she can still edit or turn off her search history, switch Gmail chat to “off the record,” control the way Google tailors ads to her interests using our Ads Preferences Manager, use Incognito mode on Chrome or use any of the other privacy tools we offer.”
Chavez said that Google is not collecting any additional information that it didn’t collect in the past. He also stated that the information that Google does collect will remain private and not be provided to third parties.
So what does the new policy change?
According to Google, the change allows information to be more easily shared between Google platforms. The example that Chavez provided is that a user could send directions to a friend on Google+ without leaving Google Maps, or that a user searching for a recipe could get better cooking related recommendations when using Google owned YouTube.
Critics complain that sharing items across platforms in such a way provides much more information about each user. The information provides details on what each user is interested in, what they do, who they talk to, where they go.
France asked Google to delay the new policy while they investigated it (that didn’t happen) and Attorney Generals in 36 US states have signed a letter expressing their concerns about the changes.
Where this will all end up is unknown at this time, but we will keep following it and update you here at CP as news comes in.
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