Computer and Library Learning (Archived)

On January 24, 2012, Google announced upcoming changes to its privacy policy that will take effect on March 1, 2012, consolidating more than 60 of 70 privacy documents into one privacy policy. These changes have attracted much attention including from politicians in the United States Congress. Consequently, Pablo Chavez, Google’s Director of Public Policy, wrote a letter to members of Congress on January 30, 2012 to assure them that the changes are intended to simplify the privacy policy and encourage seamless accessibility amongst Google’s products.

Nonetheless, Google has assured users that:  the private information of Google Account users will stay private; users will still have unfettered access to doing Google searches, watching YouTube videos, getting directions from Google Maps and so on without needing to log into a Google Account; Google Account users will still have access to privacy tools through the Google Dashboard and the Ads Preferences Manager that will make data management easy to follow; Google will not sell private information to advertisers; and, Google will continue to offer data liberation for users wishing to terminate their Google accounts and transfer their information elsewhere.   

Media reaction to Google’s privacy policy changes has been mixed. Some commentators felt that people and the media were overreacting to Google’s changes while others thought that Google’s approach to providing a seamless services experience made sense. Last week, Google’s pending changes were reported on CBC’s The National by reporter Ron Charles during which some users expressed concern about their internet usage being tracked by Google:

Some technology columnists offered useful tips to Google Account users (based on Google’s privacy tools), including: using the Google Dashboard to determine what is being tracked and what can be turned off; turning off one’s search history or removing specific search queries that the user does not wish to be recorded; using private web browsing sessions to avoid tracking browsing histories; using the “off-the-record” feature on Google Chat to avoid details being recorded in one’s chat history; and, using Google’s Ad Preferences Manager to opt out of advertisements while using Gmail and Google Search. 

(See also: Concerns over Google’s Privacy Policy Changing on March 1, 2012 )