Google announces privacy changes across products; users can’t opt out

Washington Post ^ | 1/24/2012 | Cecilia Kang

[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.

[Freedom56v2]

As owner of an android platform phone, I called my cell service provider and they said that tho I had to establish a gmail account to activiate the phone and need to use gmail account to purchase applications, I don’t need to keep logged in to the gmail to use the phone.

Thots on this folks?

I am now Start Page or Scroogle. I am finding that Scroogle sometimes gets denied access tho.

I am leaning towards getting my own domain name and then email hosting thru so some service like GoDaddy—maybe there is a better one?

[klimeckg]

If you have an apple product, you can get a .me account to use in iCloud.

I am in the process of dropping all google related items. WWW.gizmodo.com has a good thread on how to do this and what decisions to make prior to canceling your gmail.

It's been a year since I canceled Facebook and I have not missed it yet.

[Chickensoup]

They are saying that while you are logged in, they will track where you are going if using Google search engine. If you use You Tube, they will monitor that. They can read content of emails and then provide info to advertisers, etc. Ramifications of this are huge and advertising is just the beginning...IMHO.

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From what I understand you can no longer log out. I have always logged out and I will let my professional listserve go if need be.

[Chickensoup]

They are saying that while you are logged in, they will track where you are going if using Google search engine. If you use You Tube, they will monitor that. They can read content of emails and then provide info to advertisers, etc. Ramifications of this are huge and advertising is just the beginning...IMHO.

______________________

From what I understand you can no longer log out. I have always logged out and I will let my professional listserve go if need be.

[Chickensoup]

I have roadrunner and use outlook at home and i understand I could use it on a phone, if I ever chose to get one. I think not though.

I am going to get one of those ipad fours and use internet connections when I need to.

[A. Patriot]

I opted out. I deleted my g-mail account deleted my Google favorite bookmark. I also dumped my Android phone and got an Iphone. As I learn what else is associated with Google, I will either delete it or stop using it.

Gibiru is my new search engine.