Google Privacy Police Change: How Does It Affect You?

Search giant Google announced a change in privacy policy this week. The new one will allow itto know far more about who you are and what you do on the Web. Some people are now questioning if this change is too invasive, and others, if it goes against Google's core tenet - Don't Be Evil.

Google will track your data across all of its Web sites. And while Google has already been tracking your data on all of these sites, the privacy policy change means Google will combine that data for the first time in order to paint a more complete picture of you. Anything you do on Google, Gmail, YouTube and others will be collected in order to provide you with more relevant ads and more relevant searches.

Don't like the policy? Tough. Users cannot opt out of the new privacy policy. If you do not like how Google, based in Mountain View, Calif., is using your data, your only recourse is to no longer use the service. This has consumer activists upset

Google's new privacy announcement is frustrating and a little frightening, Common Sense Media chief media executive James Steyer told The Washington Post. Even if the company believes that tracking users across all platforms improves their services, consumers should still have the option to opt out - especially the kids and teens who are avid users of YouTube, Gmail and Google Search.

Users of Google's Android mobile OS will have even more of their data collected, as Google can see your phone habits as well as using the Map program to estimate your location.

There is no way anyone expected this, Jeffrey Chester, executive director of the Center for Digital Democracy, a privacy advocacy group, told the Washington Post. There is no way a user can comprehend the implication of Google collecting across platforms for information about your health, political opinions and financial concerns.

Rep Edward J. Markey (D-Mass.), co-chair of the Congressional Privacy Caucus, agreed, saying It is imperative that users will be able to decide whether they want their information shared across the spectrum of Google's offerings.

Google, however, is billing the privacy policy change as beneficial for users. 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 for 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.

Google's new privacy policy will take effect March 1.