In case you haven’t heard, Google is unveiling a new privacy policy on March 1, 2012. This new policy will sweep across (almost) all its services, rather than each site or product having its own privacy policy. This makes sense, but some people are decrying it as a violation of Google’s mantra, “Don’t be evil.” Since Google has probably sunk its claws into you in some manner, it’s important to know how this new privacy policy will affect you. And now you can find out without needing to read all that fine print.
(Note: If you’re not familiar with key terms like cookie, IP address, or pixel tags, you may want to look at Google’s term definitions first.)
1. Information Gathering. Google gathers information about you two ways: first is information you give to Google, like when you sign up for a Google account and provide your name and other information. The other way is to scour the Google services you use for particular pieces of information such as the device you are using, your location, the operating system you are using, and information from cookies, among other things. Of particular interest is the information gathered through server logs, which includes your specific searches, telephone call information (such as number, duration, carrier, etc.), your IP address, information about your device (including system activity and hardware settings), and cookies that identify your browser or Google account.
2. Information Use. Of course, Google uses your information to develop its products and to tailor ad and search content to your preferences. But there are other uses for that information as well. If another Google user knows your email address or other identifying information, Google will display your name and picture to that user. They will also collect information on websites visited and some email (based on pixel tags) “to improve your user experience and the overall quality of our services”—whatever that means. As part of this privacy policy consolidation, Google will also be able to aggregate all the personal information it has for you on any of its sites or services, meaning that they will now have a much fuller understanding of you.
3. Your Control Over Your Information. Google purports to allow you to control how your information is used (although not what information is collected). For example, you can review and control certain types of information tied to your Google account with Google Dashboard. Or you can edit your ad preferences or even opt out of some Google advertising services. You can even take information out of some of Google’s services. This last one may be difficult to control, though, as presumably that information is continually collected and will be collected again.
4. Sharing With Others. Google will not share your personal information with companies, organizations, or individuals outside of Google unless: (1) you consent to have the information shared; (2) your Google services are managed by a domain administrator or another third party that provides support; (3) Google hires an outside party to process the information for them; or (4) for legal reasons, such as enforcing applicable laws or preventing fraud or security issues. The domain administrators category seems like a difficult one to understand, if only because the domain administrator may have its own contradictory privacy policy, and its policies may allow it to do anything you would do with your own account. In that case, it seems more like your beef would be with the domain administrator rather than Google.
5. Information Security. Access to personal information is restricted to only those people who need access to it for purposes of processing it (be they Google employees, contractors, or third parties), and these people must sign strict confidentiality agreements to have access to the information.
6. No Opt-Out. Notably, there is no option to opt out of sharing your information with Google anymore, while still using its products anyway. Presumably you could stop using Google products and avoid most of their data collection, but that seems pretty unlikely at this point. There really is no provision allowing you to even call or write a letter, like some other privacy policies allow. There just is no opting out of Google’s information collection as of March 1, 2012.
That’s about all that really grabs my attention as I read the new privacy policy. It actually doesn’t seem that different from prior privacy policies Google has instituted, and is not that surprising. The big concern seems to be that Google can aggregate all your information from all its various services. I don’t know how much of that information is duplicated, but I’m not worried that Google will suddenly know significantly more about me than it did before.
If you have any questions or concerns, please let me know in the comments and I will try to address them. If you have problems, you can contact Google here.
(photo: http://www.flickr.com/photos/alancleaver/4105726930/)
About Graham Martin
Graham Martin is a solo practitioner focusing on Contract law (including drafting, review, and litigation). He operates Martin Legal Services, LLC in the Minneapolis-St. Paul area.
