Google risked drawing the ire of privacy pundits and federal regulators Jan. 24 with its augmented privacy policies. The practices, which kick-in March 1, call for a single, unified privacy policy to preside over 60 of Google's 70 products that previously had disparate privacy rules. What this means is users of Google search, YouTube, Gmail and Google Docs and Calendar will all be using the services under the banner of one privacy policy. This may sound fantastic to some users and for government regulators who lament complex, long-winded legalese—until you get down to the other details. Going forward, Google account users may have their data from Gmail or YouTube cross-pollinated with Google search, Calendar and dozens of other Google applications. Users can't opt out of these privacy changes without closing their Google accounts, a radical measure for most users. The eWEEK slide show examines the policy details and the public backlash that is already gathering strength.
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One Account to Rule Them All
"Our new Privacy Policy makes clear that, if you're signed in, we may combine information you've provided from one service with information from other services. In short, we'll treat you as a single user across all our products, which will mean a simpler, more intuitive Google experience," wrote Alma Whitten, the director of privacy, product and engineering who is leading the policy changes. For more information, watch this video.
What Does This Mean
The new Google Search, plus your world (SPYW), shown here, exemplifies the practice tweak. With SPYW, the search box now includes information from users’ Google+ social network posts and photos. "So if I search for restaurants in Munich, I might see Google+ posts or photos that people have shared with me, or that are in my albums," Whitten noted. "Today we can also do things like make it easy for you to read a memo from Google Docs right in your Gmail, or add someone from your Gmail contacts to a meeting in Google Calendar."
Want to Leave?
Leaving Google just got a little tougher. Because Google is treating users as one individual across all products, users will essentially have to close their Google account if they don't like the change.
Chrome, Google Wallet
Of course, there are some Google apps that don't fall under the overarching privacy banner. Accordingly, these apps retain separate product privacy policies. These include Google Wallet, which has become the single payment platform for Google services, the Chrome browser and Google Books.
Honan isn't just spouting off. He noted that Google appears to be flouting its own principles about not holding personal information "hostage." By making it impossible for users to opt out of most Google services because of their association to one single Google account, the search engine appears to be coming really close to the data hijacking line.
Google’s Side of the Story
But wait—there are two sides to every story. Forbes blogger Kashmir Hill claims Google hasn’t altered its privacy policies so much as its practices. It's a fine line, but the proof exists. Google keeps an archive of its privacy policies. Hill dug out this gem that shows how at least as far back as 2005, Google awarded itself the ability to cross-reference data across its multiple Web services: "We may combine the information you submit under your account with information from other Google services or third parties in order to provide you with a better experience and to improve the quality of our services." In other words, it isn't entirely new: Google is just getting around to it now to bolster Google+.
Google Data Dashboard
Here's another example of how Google has been moving toward this unified identity goal: the Google Dashboard, which provides on one page data users generate in Google services.
Why Is This Happening?
What is pushing Google to do this? Advertising and Facebook. While this unification of Google search, Gmail, YouTube and other services under one identity may be beneficial for comprehensive users, it will also significantly enhance Google's ability to target users with ads. Thank Google+ for providing the identity glue to weave this all together. Google+ has more than 90 million registered users. If those users regularly share information with each other, it will enhance the Search, plus your world feature's results. The more Google knows about each user from personal results, which users have given Google implicit permission to use by using Google+ and searching Google.com, the better Google can refine its ad-serving capabilities. Why does Google need to improve its social ad targeting? Because Facebook is already doing exactly this. As a result, Facebook is crushing all comers, including Google, in user engagement. This means users are spending more time on Facebook and seeing more ads, which allows Facebook to make more money.
Google Takeout
Don't like what all of this data wrangling is doing? As we noted earlier, you can close out your Google account and take your data with you. Google Takeout lets users "liberate" or export their data.
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Google risked drawing the ire of privacy pundits and federal regulators Jan. 24 with its augmented privacy policies. The practices, which kick-in March 1, call for a single, unified privacy policy to preside over 60 of Google's 70 products that previously had disparate privacy rules. What this means is users of Google search, YouTube, Gmail and Google Docs and Calendar will all be using the services under the banner of one privacy policy. This may sound fantastic to some users and for government regulators who lament complex, long-winded legalese—until you get down to the other details. Going forward, Google account users may have their data from Gmail or YouTube cross-pollinated with Google search, Calendar and dozens of other Google applications. Users can't opt out of these privacy changes without closing their Google accounts, a radical measure for most users. The eWEEK slide show examines the policy details and the public backlash that is already gathering strength.