Posted on 01/24/2012 3:05:35 PM PST by Freedom56v2
Google said Tuesday it will require users to allow the company to follow their activities across e-mail, search, YouTube and other services, a radical shift in strategy that is expected to invite greater scrutiny of its privacy and competitive practices.
The information will enable Google to develop a fuller picture of how people use its growing empire of Web sites. Consumers will have no choice but to accept the changes.
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The policy will take effect March 1 and will also impact Android mobile phone users, who are required to log in to Google accounts when they activate their phones.
FAQ: What kind of data can Google collect and integrate? How will this affect me?
The changes comes as Google is facing stiff competition and recently disappointed investors for the first time in several quarters, failing last week to meet earnings expectations. Apple, perhaps its primary rival, is expected to announce strong earnings Tuesday.
Google’s changes are appeared squarely aimed at Apple and Facebook, which have been successful in keeping people in their ecosystem of products. Google, which makes money by selling ads tailored to its users, is hoping to do the same by offering a Web experience tailored to personal tastes.
“If you’re signed in, we may combine information you’ve provided from one service with information from other services,” Alma Whitten, Google’s director of privacy, product and engineering wrote in a blog post.
“In short, we’ll treat you as a single user across all our products which will mean a simpler, more intuitive Google experience,” she said.
(Excerpt) Read more at washingtonpost.com ...
“The information will enable Google to develop a fuller picture of how people use its growing empire of Web sites. Consumers will have no choice but to accept the changes.”
They will if they switch to Firefox and leave the looney left to get tracked.
Scrooooooooo gooooooogle
Or you could switch to SRWare Iron, which is what I use. It’s Chrome with the user tracking removed.
I signed up for my own domain name a few weeks ago. I plan on moving my personal correspondence there to keep it outside of Google’s reach. ~$3.50 a month for my own web site and a bit more email privacy? Yes please!
I have firefox, but I did not think Firefox provides search and email functions...
I use Start Page thru Firefox...but I still have Google email.
Yahoo is gonna love this!
Thanks! I am going to look into this :)
Also, have a look at DuckDuckGo.com. They don’t track you or keep any of your personal information. Their search results are the same ones you get through Bing or Yahoo, so they aren’t quite as good as Google’s in certain cases, but for the added privacy, it’s well worth the sacrifice IMO.
With a response like that you clearly don't understand the scope of this.
Indeed. I have both yahoo and google. My kids (one is a computer scientist) lauded gmail. So now I use both. My droid phone has gmail. I guess I need to figure out how/if I can turn off my gmail function. I would rather not get my emails on my phone than have them tracking me. Creepy!
myway.com
Do you know how DuckDuck.com compares to Ixquick (Start Page)~they use Google, but they shield user IP addresses.
https://www.startpage.com/eng/company-background.html
I thot theyy use Google...
Thanks.
I think this is a “Real World” data collection project to see how many people really do object to being tracked 24/7 as they use the internet.
The results will be used to determine how GOOGLE will respond in the future to Governments ‘requests’ to monitor us for our own good.
They could be just an insulating front, but they claim this on their intro page:
Ixquick search engine protects your Privacy!
Ixquick does NOT record your IP address!
Read more on our Privacy position or go directly to Ixquick’s Privacy policy.
How or what exactly does google track through gmail?
Do they track the content of emails sent and received?
Do they read my private emails?
To my dismay my ISP has started using the gmail email format a few months back. I miss the plain jane emails. There seems to be no escaping google. It’s like a virus.
How or what exactly does google track through gmail?
Do they track the content of emails sent and received?
Do they read my private emails?
To my dismay my ISP has started using the gmail email format a few months back. I miss the plain jane emails. There seems to be no escaping google. It’s like a virus.
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