Check Your Inbox: Google to Issue Subscribers Its New Privacy Policies…and They’re Forced to Accept
- Posted on January 25, 2012 at 12:00am by
Liz Klimas
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Effective, March 1, 2012, Google will have new privacy policy and terms of use in place that some state will lead to increased tracking but Google says does not deviate from its core principals.
Google announced Tuesday that it would be getting rid of its more than 60 different privacy policies, merging them all into one that it says is “shorter and easier to read.”
The New York Times BITS blog reports that Google will be emailing each user of the policy update, in its “biggest notification effort ever.” This announcement comes just a couple weeks after Google launched its Search, Plus Your World feature without much notice to the user, creating a bit of angst.
Watch Google’s video detailing some of the updates:
The Times has more:
The new privacy policy makes clear that for people logged into a Google account, Google can use information shared on one service in other Google services.
“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 company blog post. “In short, we’ll treat you as a single user across all our products, which will mean a simpler, more intuitive Google experience.”
The change will also allow Google to do other useful things, Ms. Whitten wrote, like letting a user know she might be late for a meeting based on her calendar and current location, or correcting the spelling of a friend’s name in a Google search.
The catch, the Washington Post reports, is that there is no opting out of accepting these policies.
On Google’s blog, Whitten writes, that Google will continue to refrain from selling your information or sharing it to externally without permission.
Still, Ryan Calo, director for privacy at the Stanford Center for Internet and Society, said the company needs to be careful how it uses the data so that it helps users, without revealing sensitive information.
“If it creeps people out, then they need to be aware of that,” he said.
Calo does believe that Google is trying to do the best it can to simplify its privacy policy and make it transparent without bogging down people with pages of legalese. The privacy documents now run about 10,000 words, down from 68,000.
Earlier this week, Twitter, Facebook and MySpace teamed up to launch a search tool called “Don’t Be Evil” to help users “transform” search results that may be focused on content only from Google+.
The Associated Press contributed to this report.
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Peace2011
Posted on January 26, 2012 at 9:21pmSo, what’s the safest one to uses, Blaze?
Report Post »13axes
Posted on January 28, 2012 at 8:24amUse Mozilla Firefox beta 10-install noscript,adblock plus and ghostery from the addons in the tools menu of the browser.in your privacy section(tools-options-privacy) go to manage exceptions-add http://www.google.com/ and block it.add your trusted websites to the exceptions list and click on allow,then block third party cookies.also in the addons install Startpage as your search engine and move it to the top of the list.Startpage removes all personal or identifying info and then send your search to google,so you still can use google search,anonymously.Also Techemail is the best email service-no spam in 3 years,not one.
Report Post »expendable
Posted on January 26, 2012 at 1:01pmwatching real news on gbtv regarding privacy and google the one thing they FORGOT ! IT’S MORE LIKELY YOU WILL HAVE IDENTITY THEFT ! which is the highest most likely crime to happen to you which could be the most devastating financial theft that could ever happen to you !
Report Post »TJexcite
Posted on January 25, 2012 at 5:39pmIt is all for Ad money…. Focused ads that give you ads based on your history. Search for gold you get gold sellers on Theblaze. Why give you ads to face cream or working at home when you will never go there to spend money. Waste of money for both Google and the people paying them for ads if it does not lead to sales. If you search history shows that you search for computer parts Google ads are are for computer suppliers.
Don’t be evil, but make money by any means.
Report Post »lylejk
Posted on January 25, 2012 at 3:26pmAnd many here wonder why I avoid Google like the plague. Again, if you really need privacy, go to IXQuick for your searches. :)
https://www.ixquick.com/
Report Post »shogun459
Posted on January 25, 2012 at 1:49pmOne of the oldest and best search engines.
http://www.webcrawler.com
Report Post »shogun459
Posted on January 25, 2012 at 1:47pmMMWA HA HA HA HA!
Too late you realize!
Too late you try to leave!
Too late you try to secure your privacy from the Government tool.
Now you know what this bunch claimed to know,
How you voted,
Where you live,
Where you work,
Who you know and believe.
If you don’t think all that will be used against you, I have some swampland to sell you.
Report Post »RESISTWEMUCH
Posted on January 26, 2012 at 9:09pmYep. Someday we’ll all be sorry we put so much out there, I fear. Pics, interests, likes, etc all stored up somewhere for future evil.
Report Post »cobra two
Posted on January 25, 2012 at 12:44pmBOYCOTT Google. and You tube! I dare you!
Report Post »RedDawn2012
Posted on January 25, 2012 at 8:20amDon’t want Google reading your Gmail? Call all your contacts and give them a password. Then create all your emails on Wordpad and encrypt them with the password. Send them as attachments to emails titled “Google Sucks.” Have your contacts do the same, using the same password. Google will only see gibberish. A good, simple, and free encryption tool is AxCrypt by Axon Data.
Report Post »Ialmostforgot
Posted on January 25, 2012 at 8:09amLets say Obama needs to ask you a question. Where are You? He doesn’t know.
Report Post »Maybe Google knows. Lets ask Google.
Hey Google, do you know where Citizen is? I need to ask Citizen a question.
Why yes, Citizen is right there!
LouC57
Posted on January 25, 2012 at 7:45amOh great…this is not a good thing, especially for those who rely on Google advertising for businesses.
I‘ve wondered after reading Joel Rosenberg’s books if this isn’t the anti-Christ.
Report Post »ALL-IN
Posted on January 25, 2012 at 6:55amThe blaze refused to post my last comment. All it talked about was unity and FREEDOM. What does that tell you?
Report Post »ALL-IN
Posted on January 25, 2012 at 7:04amoops
Report Post »Zen Patriot
Posted on January 25, 2012 at 7:43amIt tells me you’re impatient and paranoid since I just read your previous post.
Report Post »ALL-IN
Posted on January 25, 2012 at 6:50amWe have the power to make any enity cater to our desires if we had unity. Millions of us working together for a common cause. If we don’t do something soon it will most definately be to late. If it isn’t already. Are we as citizens of the greatest country on earth still capable of unity on just one thing? That one thing being FREEDOM!!!! Because without Freedom nothing else matters.Lets speak as one massive enity.And be prepared to do whatever is nessessary to achive our goal. I am ALL-IN.
Report Post »KevINtampa
Posted on January 25, 2012 at 3:17pmI’m a Lightning fan as well.
Report Post »MAConservative
Posted on January 25, 2012 at 5:58amI purged Google from my online life a while ago as I believe this to be one EVIL company. I am a staunch conservative who is pro-business and pro-capitalism however not when it comes to Google. I don’t believe for a minute that they will not share their knowledge of you with our government that is becoming increasingly tyrannical and oppressive. In fact I believe that’s happening now. Google‘s advertisers won’t use them if they know their target market, YOU, are not there. Do yourself a favor and get Google from your systems; Bing and Yahoo are just as good (IMHO) and if I see them going in this direction, I’ll dump them too.
Report Post »kentuckypatriot
Posted on January 25, 2012 at 7:10amI’m with you 100%/ I also dumped Google, especially when it was reported they were alledgedly in cahoots with the arab spring last year.
Report Post »bpodlesnik
Posted on January 25, 2012 at 9:21amWho do you then suggest? I’ve had a gmail for quite some time and is my primary email. And I agree with Yahoo becoming a problem to.
Report Post »TomFerrari
Posted on January 25, 2012 at 5:11amJust great. All of my email is gmail. You know that is what this is about.
“All products” means they are going to start ‘reading’ all our emails, and using that to “market” and to “advertise” to us.
Sounds like it is getting to be time to search for a new email provider.
Maybe Hushmail??? (end to end encryption)
We need good constitutional adherent candidates to FILL both houses so we can Amend the constitution to address privacy laws, as well as clarify that the Constitution is NOT to be “interpreted” but that it is literal, putting the chains back on government and off of the people. They are supposed to serve us. We are not supposed to serve them !!
Report Post »peaches1
Posted on January 25, 2012 at 3:56amWhy can’t Google do the right thing?
Report Post »ramburner
Posted on January 25, 2012 at 3:15amBing, Google, Yahoo; it does not matter. They are ALL in bed with Obama and they are ALL corrupt. Too much information residing in one spot under the ultimate control of one person!
Report Post »Danang1972
Posted on January 25, 2012 at 7:18amTry Dogpile! Seems to work Ok for me.
Report Post »RedDawn2012
Posted on January 25, 2012 at 8:33amActually, Obummer is just an actor. The CIA/NSA cabal is responsible for keeping tabs on all of us, and they DON’T report most of their activity to the White House … they pretty much do what they want. I wouldn’t be surprised if this cabal is in full cahoots with Google (and others) in the same way they’ve been in bed with the USPS and the phone companies all these years. This cabal started eons ago with reading our mail, then, as computers came to the fore, began parsing all of our phone calls, faxes, and emails. Illegal? Yep. But they‘ve been doing it for so long that it’s old hat now, and nobody’s going to stop them.
Report Post »GiveUsJustice
Posted on January 25, 2012 at 2:37pmQuit being a corrupt person and it wont matter. Seems to me the ones that are worrying over this actually have a reason to be nervous. I get 30 emails a day and not one of them would matter to Google.
Looks like it is a different story for you.
Get a clean job and a clean life.
End of story.
Report Post »burnteye86
Posted on January 25, 2012 at 2:41amWhat are the alternatives to Google? What are their pros and cons?
Report Post »AxelPhantom
Posted on January 25, 2012 at 1:57amGoogle minus the “go” is “ogle” [to stare at]. So “google” is really go-ogle. No thanks.
Report Post »Got2bRoni
Posted on January 25, 2012 at 12:58amThe end is near……
Report Post »dopie joe
Posted on January 25, 2012 at 12:45amI know this article is about Google mail.If you want a secure search engine scrap Google and try Ixquick https. https://www.ixquick.com/
Report Post »Gorp
Posted on January 25, 2012 at 1:02amI use Startpage for my searches
Report Post »Captain Crunch
Posted on January 25, 2012 at 12:43amDon’t use Google products of any kind.
Report Post »Google = Government
guns-an-bibles
Posted on January 25, 2012 at 12:27amI don’t care what google says. I don’t trust them, especially since they crawled into bed with uncle sam.
Report Post »Ducky 1
Posted on January 25, 2012 at 12:17amBy the adds that are posted I know my account is not private. Figure all my Gmail emails are not private!!!
Report Post »mharry860
Posted on January 25, 2012 at 1:03amI love Chrome, but it’s funny how I go to New Egg to look at computer parts and everywhere else I go after that are New Egg ads and even item specific from them and other hardware sites.
Report Post »TomFerrari
Posted on January 25, 2012 at 5:03am@mharry
Report Post »That is caused by “cookies” which are left on your computer by newegg, and which are then accessible/readable by any other site you visit. At least with cookies you can disable them or delete them. If you do, though, you will find many sites won’t work properly and will ask you to enable cookies. Kind of a catch 22.
ARealCharliesAngel
Posted on January 25, 2012 at 12:08amBING…..Because Its Not Google
Report Post »jcannon98188
Posted on January 25, 2012 at 12:23amOf course they are forced to accept it. What kind of site offers a chance to opt out of a privacy policy, or any other terms of use. Atleast they are alerting us, as they are not required to do so. When you click “I agree” you agree that the terms listed can change at any moment without warning. Stop trying to make google out to be some evil monster. Normally, they are. But this story has nothing to do with that
Report Post »Captain Crunch
Posted on January 25, 2012 at 12:44amYahoo works too.
Report Post »Shackleford
Posted on January 25, 2012 at 1:55amI use Bing too because it’s not Google. It’s funny how Microsoft, the company behind Bing, is now less evil than Google.
Report Post »jcannon98188
Posted on January 26, 2012 at 1:16pmBing steals their search results from Google. They are GEIN (Google Except in Name)
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