At first we liked the idea of Google Plus – it was intended to be ad-free, circles allowed for privacy control, no weird Facebook ticker fire-hosing in the background. But Google really played us, after they quietly announced that people’s Google+ profile content would be integrated into every search engine result—across all of their sites, including YouTube. Not only that, but the information will deliver aggregated data to advertisers, exactly where Google racks up the revenue.
Of course, there are ways to avoid the tracking: log out of your Gmail/Google+ account before browsing, or use a different search engine altogether—but we don’t want to have to have to go to that amount of trouble; we want the old Google back—we’re talking about the Google who started out as a white screen with the word “Google” and a text box that opened a portal to the entire Internet.
Executive director of the Center for Digital Democracy said, “[t]here is no way anyone expected this [.] [...] 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.”
People are frightened of this new policy. CEO of Common Sense Media said in a press statement that, “[e]ven 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.”
Google’s new search policy will go into effect on March 1, and there is no opting-out. We’re starting to think MC Hammer’s WIREDoo wasn’t such a bad idea after all…
(via The Washington Post & Gizmodo; photo via SPUTzNIK!)
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