海角大神

If you're amazed 鈥� and maybe even a little alarmed 鈥� about how much聽Googleseems to know about you, brace yourself. Beginning Thursday,聽Google聽will operate under a streamlinedprivacy聽policy that enables the Internet's most powerful company to dig even deeper into the lives of its more than 1 billion users.

Google聽says the changes will make it easier for consumers to understand how it collects personal information, and allow the company to create more helpful and compelling services. Critics, including most of the country's state attorneys general and a top regulator in Europe, argue that聽Google聽is trampling on people's聽privacyrights in its relentless drive to sell more ads.

Here's a look at some of the key issues to consider as聽Google聽tries to learn about you.

Q: How will聽Google's聽privacy聽changes affect users?

A:聽Google聽Inc. is combining more than 60 different聽privacy聽policies so it will be able to throw all the data it gathers about each of its logged-in users into personal dossiers. The information聽Google聽learns about you while you enter requests into its search engine can be culled to suggest videos to watch when you visit the company's YouTube site.

Users who write a memo on聽Google's聽online word processing program, Docs, might be alerted to the misspelling of the name of a friend or co-worker a user has communicated with on聽Google's聽Gmail. The new policy pools information from all Google-operated services, empowering the company to connect the dots from one service to the next.

Q: Why is聽Google聽making these changes?

A: The company, based in Mountain View, Calif., says it is striving for a "beautifully simple, intuitive user experience across聽Google." What聽Google聽hasn't spent much time talking about is how being able to draw more revealing profiles about its users will help sell advertising 鈥� the main source of its $38 billion in annual revenue.

One reason聽Google聽has become such a big advertising network: Its search engine analyzes requests to figure out which people are more likely to be interested in marketing pitches about specific products and services. Targeting the ads to the right audience is crucial because in many cases,聽Google聽only gets paid when someone clicks on an ad link. And, of course, advertisers tend to spend more money if聽Google聽is bringing them more customers.

Q: Is there a way to prevent聽Google聽from combining the personal data it collects from all its services?

A: No, not if you're a registered user of Gmail,聽Google聽Plus, YouTube, or other聽Google聽products. But you can minimize the data聽Google聽gathers. For starters, make sure you aren't logged into one of聽Google's聽services when you're using聽Google's聽search engine, watching a YouTube video or perusing pictures on Picasa. You can get a broad overview of what聽Google聽knows about you at聽聽, where a聽Googleaccount login is required.聽Google聽also offers the option to delete users' history of search activity.

It's important to keep in mind that聽Google聽can still track you even when you're not logged in to one of its services. But the information isn't quite as revealing because聽Google聽doesn't track you by name, only through a numeric Internet address attached to your computer or an alphanumeric string attached to your Web browser.

Q: Are all聽Google聽services covered by the聽privacy聽policy?

A: No, a few products, such as聽Google's聽Chrome Web browser and mobile payment processor Wallet, will still be governed by separate聽privacy聽policies.

Q: Is聽Google's聽new聽privacy聽policy legal?

A: The company has no doubt about it. That's why it's repeatedly rebuffed pleas to delay the changes since announcing the planned revisions five weeks ago. But聽privacy聽activists and even some legal authorities have several concerns.

The Electronic聽Privacy聽Information Center, a聽privacy聽rights group, sued the FTC in a federal court in an effort to force the FTC to exercise its powers and block聽Google's聽privacy聽changes. A federal judge ruled the courts didn't have the authority to tell the FTC how to regulate聽Google. The FTC says it is always looking for evidence that one of its consent orders has been violated.

Earlier this week, the French regulatory agency CNIL warned聽Google聽CEO Larry Page that the new policy appears to violate the European Union's strict data-protection rules. Last week, 36 attorneys general in the U.S. and its territories derided the new policy as an "invasion of聽privacy" in a letter to Page.

One of the major gripes is that registered聽Google聽users aren't being given an option to consent to, or reject, the changes, given that they developed their dependence on the services under different rules. In particular, people who bought smartphones running on聽Google's聽Android software, and signed two-year contracts to use the devices, may have a tough time avoiding the new聽privacy聽policy. They could switch to non-Google services, but those typically don't work as well on Android software. Or they could buy a different smartphone and pay an early-termination penalty.

Q: What regulatory power do government agencies have to change or amend the聽privacy聽changes?

A: The U.S. Federal Trade Commission gained greater oversight over聽Google's聽handling of personal information as part of a settlement reached last year.聽Google聽submitted to the agreement after exposing its users email contacts when it launched a now-defunct social networking service called Buzz in 2010. The consent order requires聽Google's聽handling of personal information to be audited every other year and forbids misleading or deceptive聽privacy聽changes.

Google聽met with the FTC before announcing the聽privacy聽changes. Neither the company nor the FTC has disclosed whether聽Google聽satisfied regulators that the revisions comply with the consent order.