Relax, Google Hasn’t Become Evil

Google recently announced a big change to their privacy policy, which will go into effect on March 1st. I know change is scary, and there have been some articles with sensational headlines like "Google announces privacy changes across products; users can’t opt out" and "Google’s Broken Promise: The End of "Don’t Be Evil"" Well, I took some time today to actually sit down and read through the new privacy policy, and everybody just needs to chill out.

The two main changes Google is making is that they are now combining 60+ privacy policies across their different products into one easier to understand all encompassing privacy policy, and that they are now going to combine information from one Google product into another. Now a lot of people have taken this to mean that Google is now going to track your activity across their products to get a clear picture about who you are and who your friends are and where you live and the fact that you failed math in the 3rd grade. And they're probably right.

Here's the thing, Google isn't collecting any more data than they used to. They already keep a history of your searches, the Youtube videos you've watched, your friends, and whole bunch more depending on which Google products you use. Of course Google is going to use your information from one product in another. It's just unrealistic to have any expectations that Google keeps their Gmail, Youtube, Voice, and Calendar data seperate from each other. It would be crazy to think that they didn't already cross the streams. In fact, it would be a shame if Google didn't use the information they already have about me to make their products more relevant to the user.

What I don't quite understand how this change suddenly makes Google "evil." They are collecting the same amount of data in the past, and it is just as easy as ever to manage the data they've collected. A quick trip to Google Dashboard will let you see how much and more specifically, what data they have about you all in an easy to understand list. You can see and change what kind of personalized ads you are getting from google in your ad preferences. The Data Liberation Front easily lets you take your data with you if you want to close your Google account and go somewhere else. And they have a whole bunch of other tools to let you manage your privacy. None of that has changed. I can guarantee you, that every other web service out there collects the same sort of information, but they are not nearly as transparent about it as Google is.

When it comes down to it, people need to remember that what you put on the internet will stay there forever. The only sure way to make ensure your privacy online is to stay off the internet, because it's a reasonable assumption that anything you put on the internet can and will be traced back to you. That's not to say that there isn't a right to privacy, but you need to have measured and reasonable expectations when it comes to the internet (remember, if it isn't immediately clear what a company or a service is selling, you probably are the product being sold). Or, read the all the privacy policies and choose not to use web services that have policies you don't quite agree with. But really, who's going to do that.