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Google’s recent policy change is the first step toward a major surrender of personal privacy for the millions of Google users, according to a column in Mother Jones magazine.
Kevin Drum wrote that, under the new privacy policy, if you’re signed into any Google service, the information that Google collects from you (particularly from your searches) can be combined with information from every other Google service to build a mega-profile of your activities and preferences. Google says this new policy will mean a better computing experience for everyone.
The company’s announcement said:
Our recently launched personal search feature is a good example of the cool things Google can do when we combine information across products. Our search box now gives you great answers not just from the web, but your personal stuff too….But there’s so much more that Google can do to help you by sharing more of your information with…well, you. We can make search better—figuring out what you really mean when you type in Apple, Jaguar or Pink. We can provide more relevant ads too. For example, it’s January, but maybe you’re not a gym person, so fitness ads aren’t that useful to you. We can provide reminders that you’re going to be late for a meeting based on your location, your calendar and an understanding of what the traffic is like that day.
Drum takes over from there:
“So what’s my problem? Easy. In that mass of good news, the real reason for Google’s announcement was stuffed quietly into the middle: ‘We can provide more relevant ads too.’
“This is so obvious that no one even paid attention to it. Of course Google wants to target its ads better. That’s where most of its revenue comes from. …The way they make money is by helping third parties sell you stuff. Here, then, is the nut of the thing, from the same blog post announcing the new privacy policy:
Finally, what we’re not changing. We remain committed to data liberation, so if you want to take your information elsewhere you can. We don’t sell your personal information, nor do we share it externally without your permission…
“Do you find that reassuring? I decidedly don’t. If Google can change its privacy policy today, it can change it tomorrow. And it will. No company is an unstoppable juggernaut forever, and Google is already showing signs of becoming an ordinary corporation that has to scrap for profits just like everyone else. This is what’s motivating their policy change this week, and someday it’s likely to motivate them to sell my personal information after all.”
You can read the entire column here.
