Google (NASDAQ:GOOG) announced plans to connect user data across desktop and mobile services including Google+, Gmail and YouTube, prompting outcry from critics over potential privacy violations.
Google presently maintains more than 70 privacy documents covering its different products--on March 1, it plans to consolidate more than 60 documents into its main Privacy Policy. Separate policies will continue to govern products including the Chrome web browser and the Google Wallet m-commerce platform.
"Regulators globally have been calling for shorter, simpler privacy policies--and having one policy covering many different products is now fairly standard across the web," Google director of privacy Alma Whitten writes on the Official Google Blog. "The main change is for users with Google Accounts. 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."
Whitten goes on to outline potential consumer benefits of the move. "We can make search better--figuring out what you really mean when you type in Apple, Jaguar or Pink," she writes. "We can provide more relevant ads too. For example, it's January, but maybe you're not a gym person, so fitness ads aren't that useful to you. We can provide reminders that you're going to be late for a meeting based on your location, your calendar and an understanding of what the traffic is like that day. Or ensure that our spelling suggestions, even for your friends' names, are accurate because you've typed them before. People still have to do way too much heavy lifting, and we want to do a better job of helping them out."
The new policy follows Google's recent settlement with the U.S. Federal Trade Commission that subjects the company to 20 years of privacy audits. Google also has come under heavy regulatory scrutiny in Europe. Google hopes "that by creating a one-stop shop for privacy policy it will deflect regulatory action," Center for Digital Democracy executive director Jeff Chester told the Associated Press.
Ryan Calo, director for privacy at the Stanford Center for Internet and Society, said Google is attempting to make its policy standards more transparent for users--the new guidlelines run about 10,000 words, down from 68,000. Calo added that Google must institute policies that improve the user experience without revealing sensitive information: "If it creeps people out, then they need to be aware of that," he told the AP.
