This morning I woke up to read that Google will revise their privacy policy in order to bring roughly 60 services under one banner.
From Google:
We’re getting rid of over 60 different privacy policies across Google and replacing them with one that’s a lot shorter and easier to read. Our new policy covers multiple products and features, reflecting our desire to create one beautifully simple and intuitive experience across Google.
But, what if we don’t want that experience? What if we want things separate? Yeah, time to jump ship I’m afraid. And based on a poll that the Washington Post conducted…it looks like a lot of people are of a similar mind.
From Washington Post:
After hearing about Google’s plans to unify 60 of its services’ data under one privacy policy and share information between those services, The Washington Post’s Ryan Kellett whipped up a quick poll of users to gauge reaction to the news. Of the 13,541 readers who took our non-scientific poll, by midday Wednesday, 66 percent said that they will cancel their Google accounts because of the changes.
Fifteen percent said they weren’t jumping ship and 19 percent said they had yet to decide.
That is rather significant number of people thumbing their nose at the Goog. And, I’m not really certain I blame them. I know that this is part of the Borg Google master plan to bring everything under a single banner.
What are the changes? Aside from harmonizing the services, the age requirement for a user to be over 18 years of age has been removed. This will significantly open the user base (at least officially).
And (from Extremetech)…
On March 1, Search will know the contents of your email and the videos you watch on YouTube. If you use Google Docs for work, Search will know which company you work for and which industry you work in. Via Google Reader, Search and YouTube will know what content you like to consume. And of course, the kicker: Google’s ad networks — AdSense, AdWords, DoubleClick — will have full access to all of your search and surf habits from every Google web service.
Glad that I don’t have my info that tightly integrated. For those who do, this would seem rather uncomfortable. The joys of paying for a free service.
The Washington Post has posted a step by step article on how you can cancel your Google account.
(Image used under CC from Official US Navy Imagery)
I’ve always been of a mind that Google already shares this data amongst its various parts. But what enthuses me is how many people who consider *me* to be a security/privacy nut are now the ones bringing this up at the water cooler as a bad idea.
But the key question is, of that 66% who *say* they will leave Google over this, how many of those really will? Far fewer, I would guess.
And how many of those that *do* leave, and sit under the umbrella of FaceBook or a competing service that is probably just as bad?
At least we’re talking about this, and at least people are starting to see, little by little, the bad ideas that swirl around these issues.