Something is happening here—as Google “took over” in a sense, other tech industry giants are stepping in and saying: wait, no… You can’t just take over the entire Internet for your profit’s sake; since when does obtaining information make us subject to some sort of privacy waiver that says Google can use our information? Consider Microsoft’s “Putting people first” campaign.
This morning Reuters reported that a group of European Union regulators wrote Google, stating: “Given the wide range of services you offer, and the popularity of these services, changes in your privacy policy may affect citizens in most of or all of the EU member states [.] [...] We wish to check the possible consequences for the protection of personal data of these citizens in a coordinated way [.] [...] In light of the above, we can for a pause in the interests of insuring there can be no misunderstanding about Google’s commitments to information rights of their users and EU citizens, until we have completed our analysis.”
The letter from the EU demonstrates the slight monopolization that Google is trying to slyly pull with their “wide range of privacy settings.”And if 27 countries are coming together to point out issues, well, that says something.
Meanwhile, Google is acting “surprised” in light of the situation. Pablo Chavez wrote on his blog that, “[Google] is explaining [their] privacy commitments to users of those products in 85% fewer words,” and “[they] want to make users’ experience seamless and easy by allowing more sharing of information among products when users are signed into their Google Accounts.”
Will America step up as well, or is Google and the US synonymously attached at the hip? Or is there even much to be concerned about regarding Google’s new privacy changes?
(via The Verge & The Next Web; photo via Smart Grids)
