Google’s privacy policy allows it to collect cross-spectrum data concerning everything about you – your business, personal matters, private communication, your health, financial concerns and political opinions. Google is not connecting the dots to get a centralized picture of you and whatever you’re doing. To the extent that Google is now in a position to track your traffic movements and tell you which exit to take! Your entire life becomes a piece of unified data for Google. Here’s how Google’s new privacy policy is going to affect you, if it’s not doing so already.
1. Big Brother Google’s Watching You Drive
The IRS is not the only demon you need to fear. Big Brother Google is fast becoming the dominant species in that area. Google extracts and combines data from your Android phone, Google Calendar and other Google products you use to know where you are and what you’re doing. Google then cross-references this data with its traffic information service to send you traffic alerts. Someone to watch over you? Creepy? Yes!
2. Big Brother’s A Potential Legal Risk Too!
If you keep separate personal and business Google accounts, Google can now pool data from both into a single named Google repository. Let’s say the law wants to look up your business dealings and issues a warrant to Google. Google can then disclose everything about you from its single repository. Your goose is veritably cooked.
3. You And Your Alias Are In Trouble
Set up any number of accounts under different names, Google still plans to use your real name across all accounts. Google says they do this to consistently represent you across all their products. Google plans to use your search history, frequent contacts, and your location and so on to “serve you better” irrespective of any separate IDs or privacy partitions you’ve created. What’s in a name? No more moonlighting by day.
4. Continue With Google Or Lose It All
Google’s new privacy policy comes into effect on March 1st, 2012. After this date, everything you are is Google property. You can cancel your account right now, and request a copy of all your data and use some other service if you like. That’s about all you can do at this point, because it’s a take it or leave it kind of deal. You must now either concede your entire online identity or bid goodbye to Google’s excellent features.
5. No More Self-Denial
Let’s face it, we all do things we’re not proud of. We generally tend to brush these things off while we’re doing “respectable” stuff during the day. Not any more with Google. Want to know exactly how much Google knows about you? Check your Google Dashboard (Account Settings-> Products->Login to dashboard). You’ll see the following:
- List of Google products you use plus frequency of use
- Most recent activity on each product
- Your recent web searches
- Your top three contacts
- Number Google docs you’ve created
6. You’ve Got Nowhere To Hide
What you do on one site such as Gmail, YouTube or Google Maps will be shared with other Google-owned sites. For Google, this means tailored advertisements that’ll help Google understand general demographics better. For you, this means you’ve got nothing more to hide. Use Google Maps and Google knows your location worldwide. Use an Android phone, and Google can tap its signals to Wi-Fi access points and literally map your route.
7. Want Privacy? Vacate Home
So you decide it’s not worth it and want to move out. If you’ve used Gmail, YouTube, Picasa, Google Docs and a host of other Google products for business and pleasure, that’s thousands of calendar events, documents, pictures and videos. How is it feasible to transfer all of this to a few website quickly? Plus, which other provider offers the host of useful services that Google does? It’s not that easy to vacate a home you’ve lived in for years, after having stored something into every little nook and corner.
Conclusion
How should we react to this? With full-blown paranoia and mass-bailing out or by thinking it through? Sad to tell you this but Google’s always known everything about you ever since you starting using Google. So basically, even though Google privacy policies change, it’s more like Google is updating its practices. Google plans, at this point, only to better target users with Ads through this policy (and offer better competition to Facebook, one might say). Plus, Google’s dashboard ensures you know exactly how much they know!
When exactly to panic? That will be the day when Google starts selling its monumental databases to background checkers, insurance companies, perhaps even the Department of Homeland Security. But if all that Google is doing now is to suggest better Ads, more appropriate YouTube videos or updating you of calendar events on your way to work, why panic?
Robby is writing for ecommerce conversion optimization Company that offers full website conversion optimization services on different buying stages and enhances the overall conversion rate.