Google has increasingly been a focus of Washington regulators. Markey (D-Mass), co-chair of the Congressional Privacy Caucus: “It is imperative that users will be able to decide whether they want their information shared across the spectrum of Google’s offerings.” “There is no way a user can comprehend the implication of Google collecting across platforms for information about your health, political opinions and financial concerns.”Īdded Rep. “There is no way anyone expected this,” said Jeffrey Chester, executive director of the Center for Digital Democracy, a privacy advocacy group. Still, some consumer advocates and lawmakers remained skeptical. The company said the change would simplify the company’s privacy policy - a move that regulators encouraged. It will apply to all of its services except for Google Wallet, the Chrome browser and Google Books. Google said it would notify its hundreds of millions of users of the change through an e-mail and a message on its Web sites. “In short, we’ll treat you as a single user across all our products, which will mean a simpler, more intuitive Google experience,” she said. “If you’re signed in, we may combine information you’ve provided from one service with information from other services,” Alma Whitten, Google’s director of privacy for product and engineering, wrote in a blog post. Google, in contrast, has adopted a more scattered approach, but an executive said in an interview that the company wants to create a much more seamless environment across its various offerings. Some analysts said Google’s move is aimed squarely at Apple and Facebook - which have been successful in building unified ecosystems of products that capture people’s attention. Apple, in contrast, reported record earnings Tuesday that blew past even the most optimistic expectations. It recently disappointed investors for the first time in several quarters, failing last week to meet earnings predictions. The change to its privacy policies come as Google is facing stiff competition for the fickle attention of Web surfers. However, users who have not logged on to Google or one of its other sites, such as YouTube, are not affected by the new policy. It can also store cookies on people’s computers to see which Web sites they visit or use its popular maps program to estimate their location. Google can collect information about users when they activate an Android mobile phone, sign into their accounts online or enter search terms. “Even if the company believes that tracking users across all platforms improves their services, consumers should still have the option to opt out - especially the kids and teens who are avid users of YouTube, Gmail and Google Search.” “Google’s new privacy announcement is frustrating and a little frightening,” said Common Sense Media chief executive James Steyer. Or the firm might suggest e-mailing contacts in New York when it learns you are planning a trip there.īut consumer advocates say the new policy might upset people who never expected their information would be shared across so many different Web sites.Ī user signing up for Gmail, for instance, might never have imagined that the content of his or her messages could affect the experience on seemingly unrelated Web sites such as YouTube. When someone is searching for the word “jaguar,” Google would have a better idea of whether the person was interested in the animal or the car. Consumers could also benefit, the company said.
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