According to reports, Google's new privacy policy being rolled out by March 1 is an act to consolidate services. While this is an economical decision for the company, their services are built around the use of personal information. Users often utilize different sets of services from Google, which can be stored separately in large databases. The consolidation of all services will allow record linking across all databases, enabling one service from Google to track the use of all their services and establish a pattern on use. For example, Google have multiple advertisements displayed on many websites. By linking all its products, Google will be able to track their users' pattern of Internet usage based on the sites accessed, which allows them to identify their users.
However, Google is taking measures to inform their users of potential privacy violations. They are notifying users of this change and providing them ample time to decide whether or not to continue using their services. On the other hand, the lack of similar services and the effort involved in switching services may ultimately result in users accepting potential privacy violations in favor of the convenience provided by Google. This allows Google to control the type of information stored and the pattern of Internet usage from their users. However, Google is a corporate giant and must keep its shareholders' trust; therefore, will ultimately have to make decisions according to the company's interest and not the interest of its users.
http://www.infosecurity-magazine.com/view/23825/privacy-group-sues-ftc-over-googles-privacy-changes/
http://www.infosecurity-magazine.com/view/23500/googles-revised-privacy-policy-not-sitting-well-with-some
No comments:
Post a Comment