If you’ve paid attention while visiting a Google website in the recent past, you would have noticed that there’s a small text box advertising that the company is coming out with a new privacy policy, effective from March 1st, 2012. So what is this going to mean for you, every time you use a Google service?
The major change this new policy has to offer is that information they obtain when you use one Google service can be combined with information they gain when you use other services. This, they claim, will result in a ‘simpler, more intuitive Google experience’. A lot of people, however, are crying foul and justifiably saying that since one cannot opt out of this new privacy policy unless one leaves the Google network, it is unfair. An opt out is not even available for users of Android products.
So why would you want to opt out of this privacy policy? Wouldn’t it be nice to have Google store your preferences and use them the next time you search for something, so that the results they show are more tailored for you? Some people think otherwise, and say that Google is bordering on the ‘creepy’ line. I personally find it quite unnerving every time I receive a search result or am shown an advertisement vaguely linked to something I’ve searched for before. Google argues their case by using this example: “When someone is searching for the word ‘jaguar,’ Google would have a better idea of whether the person was interested in the animal or the car”. Well, what if someone was interested in both, or the one they were not interested in before? Clearly this has not been very well thought out by Google, and this ‘Google experience’ may at times prove to be more of a hindrance than a help.
Also keep in mind that Google is primarily an advertising company. Advertisers have, for years, been utilizing the information you’ve provided while using a Google service to target you with specific ads. Many people have commented that you, the user, are the product they’re selling to advertisers.
So, is there any way out of this? Yes, but the options are limited and unsatisfactory. One simple option is to opt out of using all Google products and services. Many are understandably reluctant to do so, because of the comfort they’ve gained after using these services for so long; after all, Google does have a pretty darn good search engine. The other option would be to have multiple user accounts and use one for each service, but this would be painful and irritating, to say the least. One just has to wait and see if enough uproar is created so as to make Google roll back this policy, as this seems to be the only decent solution.
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