No stranger to privacy issues, the search giant Google seems to have taken an even bigger page out of Facebook’s manual lately. And privacy advocates are revving their engines.
Google’s newly rewritten privacy policy, enacted Thursday, essentially aggregates all user data from its combined services into one uber database, with an objective to create more comprehensive—and much more detailed—user profiles that would help the search giant better target it ads, among other things.
Altogether, the new privacy rules combine 60 out of over 70 disparate policies and pull them together into one main policy. The company also has distilled the Terms of Service into something more understandable and digestible for its users.
Specifically, according to Google’s brand new privacy policy, the search giant will be collecting and combining information provided by the users, such as names, addresses, telephone numbers and credit card numbers—that are freely handed over when they sign up for a Google Account, for example. Google will also add to the information melting pot data it acquired when users accessed its services, such as device-specific information (hardware models, operating systems, etc..) , log information (telephony logs, IP address), geo-location information (GPS signals sent from a mobile device), and unique application numbers as well as cookies and anonymous identifiers.
Collecting user data is nothing new for Google. In fact, Google has been compiling and storing information on its users from Gmail and Calendar for years since Gmail’s inception in 2004. Where the new policy differs is that it aims not only to collect, but tie together copious user data from across all its products and services to associate with specific individuals.
In a 13-page letter to Congress, Google maintained that ostensibly nothing has changed regarding its privacy policy and that users still have control over what services they use and how they choose to apply their privacy settings, while underscoring that their personal information will not be shared with third parties.
But users, privacy advocates and watchdogs aren’t so sure. The revamped privacy policies elicited a firestorm from critics who contend that now Google has the power to piece together information to create a pretty darn accurate picture of its users—everything from where they shop, places they visit, where or in what neighborhood they live, and who they talk to as well as their hobbies and interests. That’s pretty much everything.
But what has really raised the ire of users is that they aren’t given an “opt-out” alternative, other than to stop using Google’s services completely.
Short of that, there are some tactics users can take to better ensure their privacy, although it requires some creativity and sacrifice. Julie Sartain of Network World has suggested a few:
1: When applying to a Google Account that requests your name, address, phone number or credit card information, avoid revealing your personally identifying data by fabricating the information.
2: Delete your browsing history after each search. Or, if you truly want to prevent Google from identifying you or your search habits, use a different search engine, such as Bing or Yahoo.
3: To confuse Google’s geo-location technology, you can invest in an IP scrambler, or provide a fake IP address every time you log in to any service.
4. Users can also install an add-on software are called Google Analytics Opt-Out Browser Add-on (Beta version) which gives users some limited options regarding how their data is collected by Google Analytics.
While all of these options take effort, and none are likely ideal, they do give the user some control over how Google can access and use your data.
Meanwhile, Google’s privacy woes are nothing that other tech counterparts—namely Facebook—haven’t been dealing with for years. And if history reveals anything about the path ahead, this kerfuffle will likely blow over or evolve into a more complicated ongoing legal debate on user privacy. In either case, most users will likely adjust their Google privacy settings as desired—or not—and carry on.