Google privacy changes go live tomorrow
On Thursday, Google will enact its new, streamlined terms of service and privacy policy, which the search giant said would make for "a聽simpler, more intuitive Google experience."
The trade-off: Google will now collect and compile user data from all of its services, in order to provide what it calls improved search results.聽
The catch: Users can't opt-out of the new policy (although, Hayley Tsukayama points out today at the Washington Post,聽users can simply not to sign into Google before entering information into search fields).聽
"The result," Doug Gross 聽over at CNN, "encapsulates perhaps the most basic conundrum of the modern Web. More information means better service (and potentially, more targeted advertisements). But that service (in this case more accurate search results, more interesting ads and new features that work across multiple sites) requires you to give up some of your privacy in return."聽
Privacy 鈥� it's been a sticking point since Google first announced the new changes, back in January. Competitors such as Microsoft were quick to pile on, as were politicians.聽"The lack of opt-out means users cannot pick and choose which data they want integrated into their Google profiles,"聽Sen. Richard Blumenthal, a Democrat from聽Connecticut,聽聽at the time.聽
This week, on the eve of the implementation of the new privacy policy, Google is under attack from a French agency called CNIL, or聽Commission nationale de l'informatique et des libert茅s. As PC World , CNIL, an independent organization, has sent a letter to Google CEO Larry Page, complaining that the new terms of service do not adequately explain how Google plans to use the personal information it collects.聽
CNIL asked Google to hold fire on the new policy until the organization has a chance to vet it; Google has refused, Mark Hachman of PC World.
For more information on how the new policies will affect you, check out at the official Google blog, and keep your eye on Horizons for further updates. 聽
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