Google Privacy Policy Could Violate EU Law 135
judgecorp writes "Google's new unified privacy policy could violate EU law, according to objections. The French data regulator warns that the policy will infringe users' privacy by building a single online profile. Commission Nationale de L’informatique et Des Libertes (CNIL) has expressed “deep concerns” about the policy and its adherence to the European Data Protection Directive."
What about MSN passport? (Score:4, Informative)
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Passport has already been under investigation by the EU. Perhaps not coincidentially, none of Microsoft's grandiose plans of a complete identity solution for the entire web panned out.
Mart
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Re:What about MSN passport? (Score:5, Informative)
Oh really, Mr. shill? So where's that opt-in option?
From Microsoft privacy statement:
Collection of Your Personal Information
We collect information as part of operating our Websites and services.
- At some Microsoft sites, we ask you to provide personal information, such as your e-mail address, name, home or work address, or telephone number. We may also collect demographic information, such as your ZIP code, age, gender, preferences, interests and favorites. If you choose to make a purchase or sign up for a paid subscription service, we will ask for additional information, such as your credit card number and billing address.
- In order to access some Microsoft services, you will be asked to sign in with an e-mail address and password, which we refer to as your Windows Live ID. By signing in on one Microsoft site or service, you may be automatically signed into other Microsoft sites and services that use Windows Live ID. For more information, see the Windows Live ID privacy supplement.
- We collect additional information about your interaction with Microsoft sites and services without identifying you as an individual. For example, we receive certain standard information that your browser sends to every website you visit, such as your IP address, browser type and language, access times and referring Web site addresses. We also use Web site analytics tools on our sites to retrieve information from your browser, including the site you came from, the search engine(s) and the keywords you used to find our site, the pages you view within our site, your browser add-ons, and your browser's width and height.
- We use technologies, such as cookies and web beacons (described below), to collect information about the pages you view, the links you click and other actions you take on our sites and services.
- We also deliver advertisements (see the Display of Advertising section below) and provide Web site analytics tools on non-Microsoft sites and services, and we collect information about page views on these third party sites as well.
- When you receive newsletters or promotional e-mail from Microsoft, we may use web beacons (described below), customized links or similar technologies to determine whether the e-mail has been opened and which links you click in order to provide you more focused e-mail communications or other information.
No opt-in here! The only thing you can do is opt-out of the advertising (not data collection).
More:
Sharing of Your Personal Information
Except as described in this statement, we will not disclose your personal information outside of Microsoft and its controlled subsidiaries and affiliates without your consent.
So, you can't even choose not to share your personal information with some subsidiaries and affiliates.
Oh, and that centralization of data people are criticizing Google for?
In order to offer you a more consistent and personalized experience in your interactions with Microsoft, information collected through one Microsoft service may be combined with information obtained through other Microsoft services. We may also supplement the information we collect with information obtained from other companies. For example, we may use services from other companies that enable us to derive a general geographic area based on your IP address in order to customize certain services to your geographic area.
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I am not sure if this is the direction EU is going by, but I can see an issue with telling your customers "don’t worry, all our services keep data separated" and then years later change things on you, merging all data even if you for any reason didn’t agree or disregard the warnings (like not logging into G services since they started letting users know or accidentally missing the message) versus just telling you from day one that your data will be merged across all services.
With the Google's ap
Re:What about MSN passport? (Score:5, Insightful)
I don't like lying shills, therefore I'm a Google fanboy? Good argument.
Re:What about MSN passport? (Score:4, Interesting)
Right.. more FUD...
What about this? [computerworld.com]
Don't take my word for it. On privacyscore.com [privacyscore.com], you can check the privacy comparisons between Google and MS websites yourself and look at the breakdowns.
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Do they build a single user profile by colletcting data through various services that are connected to this?
Nope
I would really like to know how you know they don't do that. Because they say they don't?
Re:What about MSN passport? (Score:4, Informative)
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But who am I kidding anyway, responding to an anonymous troll...
Use another service? (Score:2, Insightful)
Re:Use another service? (Score:4, Informative)
Most non-technical users don't understand these things. Kids usually don't fully understand the impact/ramifications.
Atleast that is some of the arguments I've heared.
Most politicians also fall in the first catagory.
Re:Use another service? (Score:4, Informative)
Re:Use another service? (Score:5, Insightful)
ignorance never makes good justification.
You're right, it doesn't. But, ignorance is a fact of life in many (if not most) areas of "technology". Don't know how to fix your own car so you got an expensive repair bill? Are you sure all those parts really needed to be replaced? How about fixing your own electric or plumbing or computer? Just because these are "physical" objects doesn't make it that different. If you knew how they worked you could (and hopefully would) make a more educated decision about them.
Yes, Google is trying to become 'Big Brother' without all those pesky restraints put upon governments by their citizens. The more information Google, Facebook, et al can harvest the more useful they become to other large entities. We're all ignorant of the true intent of these types of companies, but I'm pretty sure they intend to move "profit!" up to position #1 if at all possible.
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So the state/EU/politicians are saying that they need to protect me from wilfully giving my information in exchange for a service, on that basis that I'm "ignorant"... And at the same time they believe I'm perfectly knowledgeable of every facet of law?
Re:Use another service? (Score:4, Insightful)
If a teen wrote on facebook "first gay kiss, love that person / just tried drugs / want to vote for party X", that bit of information is there to haunt them. Being gay, trying drugs or voting x is not the issue, not being able to "un-share" it, should the need arise is.
The enlightened in this case, should work to protect the ignorant. Being a decent engineer, being a sysadmin (xkcd style) means you are the powerful. And with great power
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Two different Toyota dealerships in my city gave me wildly different recommendations for repairs:
DealerA said I needed to change my brake fluid, power-steering fluid, and that my brakes were at 50%, so they should be replaced with new ones.
DealerB said everything was dandy, and assured me that I shouldn't need to change my brakes until they were around 20%
I understand that there are Best Practice recommendations, especially where brake fluid and power-steering are involved, but many people keep a car for te
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Kids and most of the adults usually don't fully understand the impact/ramifications.
There, fixed that for you. Hell, there are even people which are able to technically understand the situation but don't see it as a real problem.
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In terms of personality, and approach to weighty matters of individual freedom, you will find that politicians fit into BOTH categories.
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Re:Use another service? (Score:5, Insightful)
So? Don't buy an Android device then, if you did not know that beforehand, send it back. If you just figure that out after months...well, go figure.
You know, you're not exactly forced to use an Android device (no I won't accept corporate stuff as excuse), you can buy a simple not-so-smart-phone...or a Windows phone *snickers*.
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Why can't they simply have an option such as "don't track me, I don't need that personalized results shit anyway"?
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No one's forcing you to use their services. They offer you great value in and a lot of options and all they want is to track you in order to serve publicity tailored to you.
And the sad part is that you're typing this here and most likely have a facebook account (that is 1000x worse)
Just shill and cancel your account if you don't want to be tracked. Or stop using it. Anything works...
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When I signed up for G+ there was a check box to track me for personalized results and it defaulted off. When checked it, I got this huge warning that was in regular English(non legalese) that I had to OK before it accepted my option.
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What about the people already owning a phone who are now affected by Google's change of the licence?
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Really?
You can use other browsers. It's not simply "use stock browser or nothing".
Google already enforces (not simply advertises) brute honesty in app installs as well.
You can be logged into any google login you want, and access the other one through another mail program if that's all it's for.
Google does offer an opt out function, but what is exactly the refund for free?
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Great, so you don't mind them telling all their advertisers (adult or not) that your IP surfs porn sites that use Google Analytics then?
The problem is not the EXISTING privacy policy, it's the new one where all the information can be tied together and used in ways it couldn't before.
Like with UK ID-card debacle. The problem is not the ID card. The problem is the associated (and unnecessary) tying of separate databases and allowing *ALL* that information to propagate through entities that never had access
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It's YOUR choice. Don't want google to track you while you watch porn, don't use their services. And I don't think they tell advertisers anything, they use your information to show you the adds themselves.
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Parent's point is that the one "using their services" is the porn website (using Google Analytics), not the user, who will be tracked even though he isn't using any Google service.
Re:Use another service? (Score:4, Interesting)
Well, if he's worried about the cookies, he can use a feature present on most modern browsers to go incognito or private or whatever. That works if they track with cookies. Most modern browsers will also let you delete things selectively (as in, "last hour").
If they track by IP (Which I doubt) then, good luck since most of the world is behind dynamic IP's that change every 4 days or so.
If they're going by your addon signature or any shady tactic like that (which I doubt, since they seem to be under a whole lot of scrutiny lately), simply don't install all your stuff on a "porn browser, creating a bogus signature.
Even chrome is getting a "do not track" button, so there is also that.
Either way, the only thing they are doing now that they didn't do before is sharing the info throughout your account. If he doesn't have an account, what's his problem? Because every ad company will track you.
And furthermore, I highly doubt that everyone complaining doesn't have a social network account or something like that. Those are far worse because, since google uses the analytics themselves, they won't be sharing anything relevant with no one else in order to get a competitive edge. Facebook is not on the advertising business, so they DO share the info of their users with others (which, in my opinion, is way worse).
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Well, if he's worried about the cookies, he can use a feature present on most modern browsers to go incognito or private or whatever. That works if they track with cookies. Most modern browsers will also let you delete things selectively (as in, "last hour").
If they track by IP (Which I doubt) then, good luck since most of the world is behind dynamic IP's that change every 4 days or so.
If they're going by your addon signature or any shady tactic like that (which I doubt, since they seem to be under a whole lot of scrutiny lately), simply don't install all your stuff on a "porn browser, creating a bogus signature.
What if they track by ETag? Wait, you didn't know it was possible? Yeah, that's exactly the problem.
Even chrome is getting a "do not track" button, so there is also that.
Assuming the service respects it. Safari and IE already had a "do not save third-party cookies" and many services, including Google, were evading it.
Either way, the only thing they are doing now that they didn't do before is sharing the info throughout your account. If he doesn't have an account, what's his problem? Because every ad company will track you.
Canceling your account now doesn't mean they'll delete all the information they already have on you, it just means they won't show it. Oh, and "everyone does it" is not an excuse.
And furthermore, I highly doubt that everyone complaining doesn't have a social network account or something like that. Those are far worse because, since google uses the analytics themselves, they won't be sharing anything relevant with no one else in order to get a competitive edge. Facebook is not on the advertising business, so they DO share the info of their users with others (which, in my opinion, is way worse).
First, that doesn't excuse Google.
Secondly, some of us do NOT have Facebook accounts
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1- ETags are used for cache control. See the "delete last hour" bit, that'll clear your cache too.
2- The safari one was a bug and corrected, the IE one was microsoft not blocking when they got a wrong response, making the default value to accept if something was there. Google did wrong when using something a machine can't "see", but IE sucks by not making the default behaviour when it gets a wrong response to block it.
3- If you're not logged in and with no cookies from before, good luck to google tracking t
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1- Deleting the last hour only helps if the file with the tracking ETag was planted in the last hour. And besides, why should the user have to do that?
You said: "Don't want google to track you while you watch porn, don't use their services.", but now he needs to be an expert in tracking technologies?
2- We're talking about Google, not IE.
3- Google puts cookies even if you're logged out.
4- I'm not saying Facebook is better - on the contrary, I still trust Google way more than I ever trusted FB. But the fact t
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1- You have one hour, 2, a day. The time you were watching porn and didn't want to be tracked. Sigh... You clear your cache so you don't get tracked! What's your point, really? You can also use an adblock and simply blacklist everything google.
There are two kinds of tracking at play here. The one they associate with your account (what I meant when I said you shouldn't use their services) and the sudo-anonymous data that they collect when you enter a certain website. They don't know who you are, where you li
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1- You have one hour, 2, a day. The time you were watching porn and didn't want to be tracked. Sigh... You clear your cache so you don't get tracked! What's your point, really?
Deleting the content *after* accessing the porn websites is useless: you're already logged by their servers! You need to delete anything that may identify you *before* you go to the porn website.
There are two kinds of tracking at play here. The one they associate with your account (what I meant when I said you shouldn't use their services) and the sudo-anonymous data that they collect when you enter a certain website. They don't know who you are, where you live and very easily you can hide from it, it's just anonymous statistics.
Wrong. Even if you're not logged in, they still build a profile on you - that's why they need Anonymous identifiers [google.com]. And uniquely identifying someone is extraordinarily easy - you only need 33 bits of information [33bits.org].
But you can also opt out of it... if you see a page with google ads, don't go there if you don't want to be tracked by google...
Even if they don't have Google ads, they probably have Google Analytics, which is invisible to the commo
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1- You clearly have no idea of how ETags work, do you? They can track you when you're there, but then you leave and delete what might make it possible to recognize you again. Instead of spouting technical terms as if you know what you were talking about, you should read on the real use of ETags and why, for example, if there is a cache server inbetween you and the site there is no tracking possible. Just stop already, it's embarrassing.
And do you even know what anonymous identifiers are? Anonymous statistic
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1- You clearly have no idea of how ETags work, do you? They can track you when you're there, but then you leave and delete what might make it possible to recognize you again. Instead of spouting technical terms as if you know what you were talking about, you should read on the real use of ETags and why, for example, if there is a cache server inbetween you and the site there is no tracking possible. Just stop already, it's embarrassing.
I got to a random website - let's say, Slashdot - and I get a file from Google Analytics with a certain Etag. Then the next day I go to a porn website which also uses Google Analytics, so my browser requests the same file, sending the ETag in the headers. Pow, they have my unique identifier associated with both Slashdot and the porn site.
Now, pray tell, how exactly does deleting the cache *after* visiting the porn website helps?
And do you even know what anonymous identifiers are? Anonymous statistics. They even go as far as, if by any chance they go past some personal information, like device ID, they ignore it and generate a random anonymous identifier. As I said in your quote, anonymous statistics. That's it. From those links you gave me, it still is browser based. Just change your browser, computer, or simply don't go to google supported sites.
Truly anonymous statistics don't need identifiers - you just log whatever inform
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1- Because if you're worried you can clear your cache anytime? And you're even more worried, it is possible to disable caching. Also, see the part where I mention incognito mode or private browsing that makes, for example, firefox not use any temporary internet files, cookies or whatnot. Either way, I'm quite sure google analytics doesn't even use the ETags to track you. Lastly, if there is a caching server anywhere inbetween you and the webserver (common pretty much everywhere), the ETag method does not w
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1- First one only had to not use their services. Now one needs to disable caching or use private browsing.
2- "They just know that someone, somewhere goes to the websites" EXACTLY. If it was truly anonymous, they couldn't know that you're the same person that visited two unrelated sites! I
And as I said twice already, having a list of the websites you visit is more than enough to uniquely identify you. Not to mention GeoIP, that gives them a lot (no, it's not perfect, but it cuts down a whole lot).
And if you're that worried about analytics, google themselves released a blocking addon
First, you
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It's also Google's choice. No one is forcing them to offer their services to EU citizens. If they don't want to comply with our laws they can simply stop offering their services to EU citizens. I'm sure someone else will fill that gap pretty quickly.
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they comply with china, I highly doubt they won't comply with EU
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They can't bribe their way out of complying with China's laws. Might be different in the EU.
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Microsoft has a nice story (in billion$) on how not complying with EU law works.
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Don't you browse porn in Privacy mode anyway?
They don't track your IP for personal results because dynamic IPs break that. They track IPs for regional results, like local news.
Willing to pay (Score:1)
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I see nothing wrong with Google doing whatever they want with the information I voluntarily provide them in exchange for their services. If you don't want them to have it, use another service.
There are multiple problems with your post:
1. Obviously Google could do you very wrong with the information that you voluntarily provided, e.g. by making them public.
2. The issue here is that Google consolidates and joins the data over multiple services - so it's email and search and G+ and YouTube services. Before each service had its own privacy clauses that were service specific and - at least legally - Google could not merge and match this information across those services.
3. Changing to a different ser
so all of a sudden Google is now infringing (Score:5, Insightful)
and Facebook is not? What is it that Facebook is doing that Google has not done? Reading the FA didn't reveal anything other than an impression that "will continue their investigations with Google’s representatives" essentially means "will see if this gives us a good chance to treat Google as an ATM".
Re:so all of a sudden Google is now infringing (Score:4, Insightful)
Re:so all of a sudden Google is now infringing (Score:4, Insightful)
where's the third party? Google operate all of the services that the new consolidated privacy policy applies to.
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What part of the explicit consent wasn't there?
You already signed up for the services meaning you already provided explicit consent.
Re:so all of a sudden Google is now infringing (Score:5, Informative)
Cross-referencing databases. I guess facebook is in the clear because they only have one database. The problem is cross-referencing personal data from multiple databases.
It sounds a bit odd in technical ears, but the idea is that users can control how much they reveal about themselves and to whom. When data is cross-referenced, then data them only meant to reveal in a specific context is suddenly available in a context where it was not meant to be revealed.
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OK, that makes sense.. sort of. But still falls somewhat short of explaining what is so different about Facebook. After all, the non-tech-savvy people even don't understand the concept of a database, for many it is just "in the internet" somewhere.
On Facebook I chat with people, I use apps, I post things, I click on videos, I use search (very little, but who knows how many people treat their search essentially as a Bing portal). The only difference between this and Google services is in that activities at G
Re:so all of a sudden Google is now infringing (Score:4, Informative)
See those Facebook buttons in almost every website? That's Javascript being loaded from Facebook's domains, and your browser is sending your login cookies along.
Are they tracking? It's impossible to know. But they are getting the information of what sites you're visiting.
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YES. Even when you're not actively using the website. It will create "pre-profiles" based on e-mail addresses people put in the "look for friends" function, so that when you create an account it can instantly suggest "friends". If you have an account, and a friend tags you in a photo they uploaded, how is that not collecting data on *you*?
>>your searches
It's slightly unclear, but it seems that does collect data on what you put into the FB "search bar" at the t
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Then I hate to inform you that Facebook knows as much if not moreso then Google does about you. You also forgot the Facebook Content Distribution Network and all of those Like Buttons and yes they combine all of that information with your profile, just like Google and MS are doing. The big question, Is facebook doing anything different then Google or Microsoft?
Being a bit more Paranoid, I have to wonder just what data Windows is sending to MS as I've not seen anything in the last year where anyone has looke
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The Shareholder Wealth Maximization Myth [truthonthemarket.com].
By the way, Sergey, Larry and Eric alone control more than 50% of the voting power.
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Google simultaneously owns the least intrusive and most intrusive ad network on the internet, and those account for a large majority of ads served. A
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Its more about transferring data to third parties or using it for things other than what the user signed up for, which is why Facebook needs permission when you want an app to have access to your information.
Google DOES allow this (Score:2)
Google DOES allow everyone to opt out of everything, if you want you can most of their services nearly anonymous.
Try that with Facebook.
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Viviane Reding, the EU commissioner with responsbility for this area, was interviewed on BBC radio about this today and acknowledged that indeed they have concerns beyond Google and Facbook was mentioned specifically. However she also indicated that the advice she had sought (up to now it was mostly a French legal process) was that Google's new policy was in conflict with European law.
If there'd been any intention to "treat Google as an ATM", the commissioner would not have gone out of her way to warn Googl
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Who said Facebook isn't? [slashdot.org] Facebook has already been sued a number of times in the EU.
Not a bad thing (Score:4, Interesting)
To be honest, having different terms and conditions for every service that Google runs must have been quite confusing for a lot of people*, so consolidating them into one package does make sense.
I can however understand the problem with Google now being able to use data collected from one service and now using it in another, but if all they're doing is using it to target us with more specific ads then I don't really care.
* I've never read the T's and C's and to be honest I reckon only a very small number of Google users have.
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decide. either it confused "a lot of people", or "a very small number" even read them.
it's just PR-speak for "hey, isn't this exciting, we did this for YOU!", which is of course pure bullshit.
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It is not an either/or proposition. A large number of those who have never read the T's and C's can still be confused about what T's and C's they're bound to by using the service.
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But they'd not be confused by there being so many different ones, duh! Being confused about X doesn't equal being confused about Y just because it both involves being confused. So yes, it very much is an either/or proposition, try reading it again mayhaps.
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I did read it, thank you.
Try this thought experiment.
Ask 100 google users this question:
"Are you confused by the Terms and Conditions that you are bound to when using Google services?"
Followed by this question:
"Have you read the Terms and Conditions that you are bound to when using Google services?"
IMHO you have a high probability of getting more than a few Yes/No answer pairs.
Uniform conditions != data aggregation (Score:2)
It's one thing to have a uniform set of conditions for a number of different services -- and potentially a good thing, if the conditions are fair and well-designed.
It's quite a different question whether that should also be associated with data aggregation or consolidation . Is this actually some kind of attempted cover for data aggregation, to distract attention from simultaneous data aggregation in the hope of reducing or de-fusing objections to an unpalatable plan? After all, there's no real need for u
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I'm not bothered by the change, but no one ever read the Terms and Conditions, so no one was confused at all with the fact they were different. Most likely
no one ever noticed.
This was marketing speak, pure and simple.
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To be honest, having different terms and conditions for every service that Google runs must have been quite confusing for a lot of people*, so consolidating them into one package does make sense.
I do not think so. I rather think that is quite confusing to see that Google uses my Gmail login and data to "improve" my search results or stores my search strings persistently. I did not sign up for this feature.
It makes a lot of sense to have different T&C for a serach engine, an email service, a video sharing board, and a social network.
I can however understand the problem with Google now being able to use data collected from one service and now using it in another, but if all they're doing is using it to target us with more specific ads then I don't really care.
The question is not whether you care. The question is whether it is legal to join those databases without explicit user consent. And there is a high probability
Brief explanation? (Score:2)
Ok, I don't have time to read the new and older policies. Anybody interested in summarizing what changed and its implications?
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Summary: You use our services, we make money with whatever information we get from/about you.
No, I did not read it, why do you ask?
Obvious Solution! (Score:2)
Efficiency! Progress!
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You don't understand, what is going to become of all the contractors and tenders paid with the taxpayers' money?
Those people will all simply apply for a job at Google ;-)
If the services had started out integrated (Score:5, Interesting)
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Re:If the services had started out integrated (Score:4, Informative)
The key issue is where the control lies. On Facebook the user has to explicitly allow the information to be used by the various applications etc. In Googleland they are just tearing down the barriers without giving the user the chance to say that they don't want their information from the different areas to be included in their meta-profile.
If Google had thought about it a simple acceptance screen allowing people to opt in and out their information from the meta-profile would probably have addressed the privacy concerns. It would also highlight to the users what information Google has collected and what services it is providing. Google steers by its own moral compass and doesn't really care what anyone else thinks as long as it's happy with what its doing.
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Google has the same controls regarding third party access to information as FB. The only difference is that Google doesn't really rely on many third party applications, whilst FB has created a complete ecosystem in that respect.
>>If Google had thought about it a simple acceptance screen
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How can I get FB to not use my information in photos? Oh wait. I can't
You can set your profile so that you have to approve tags people add of you to photos.
How can I get FB to not use my information in events? Oh wait, I can't.
Reject the event invitation - though admittedly that fact will show up in the list of people who rejected the event.
How can I get FB to not use my information in chat? Oh wait, I can't.
I'm not even sure what you mean by that, but you can safely leave chat switched off (as I did for a number of years).
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I agree that the key issue is where the control lies. And from everything I've seen from google they've wanted to ensure that the user has as much control as possible. Want to modify the search history attached to your google account? you can do that. Want to migrate your emails out of gmail? you can do that. Want to download and then delete your google+? you can do that.
For every service google provides they also provide a mechanism for migrating the data and deleting it. If you want the separate serv
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If the services had started out integrated this would not be an issue. On Facebook you can do a search, look at someone's photos, post comments etc. and everyone knows they all share data. Should Google be treated differently just because google brought in picassa, added blogging, etc. rather than implementing them all in one go?
Yes. You signed up for different T&C and to switch services now - after you trusted 1000s of emails to Google and created 100s of G+ networks - is very expensive. So, how can you NOT accept the change and still use the service?
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Now, if you set up seperate accounts you can't even be logged in to both at the same time.
Not true now, you can be logged into multiple gmail accounts using the multiple sign-in feature, though youtube will always default to the first
What about NSA? (Score:4, Insightful)
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Amen brother.
POPEL time! (Score:2)
Do no evil? (Score:3)
Google's motto is 'do no evil' which is laudable. It has to be asked though, "who defines what is evil?".
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Google does! https://www.google.com/search?q=define%3Aevil [google.com]
Boycott Google (Score:2)
EU vs. US on privacy (Score:5, Interesting)
nonsense (Score:2)
Germany has credit reporting agencies just like the US, for example SCHUFA. (Where do you people come up with this kind of nonsense?)
Re: (Score:1)
The Problems with Google's privacy policy... (Score:2)
a: They collect a LOT of information: not just search, but effectively every web page you visit which includes an add from Doubleclick or +1 or youtube video, plus all the google services: gmail, calendar, docs, are all open season. Not only can Google data-mine your email to show adds on Gmail, but can datamine your email for whatever purpose they want!
b: The privacy policy is amazingly broad. Basically its "We can do anything we want other than sell the raw data to others", and it covers everything
So let them completely block Google in the EU (Score:2)
Single company, single profile (Score:3)
As far as I know, Google is a single company. That it offers "mail", "calendar", "youtube" and other services doesn't mean it is different companies.
Can EU customers of department stores insist that the department not combine information from their shopping at the furniture department and clothing department but treat it separately? If that's what you want you should simply get several loyalty cards and use them separately -- which Google already supports.
In fact, if you don't want to be tracked by Google then simply don't sign in to a google account when you search. Alternatively, have several google accounts -- one for each service.
Re: (Score:1)