Google to Simplify Privacy Policy
Google on Friday announced that it will be streamlining its privacy policy, effective Oct. 3. The search engine giant is not making any material changes to its policy, but is removing redundant sections, and launching a new privacy tools page.
"Long, complicated and lawyerly—that's what most people think about privacy policies, and for good reason," Mike Yang, associate general counsel at Google, wrote in a blog post. "So we're simplifying and updating Google's privacy policies."
Google will make two different types of changes. First, it will delete 12 product-specific policies that the company finds repetitive.
"These changes are also in line with the way information is used between certain products—for example, since contacts are shared between services like Gmail, Talk, Calendar and Docs, it makes sense for those services to be governed by one privacy policy as well," Yang wrote.
Google also plans to cut out some of the more redundant language and make the phrasing more user-friendly. "For example, we're deleting a sentence that reads: 'The affiliated sites through which our services are offered may have different privacy practices and we encourage you to read their privacy policies,' since it seems obvious that sites not owned by Google might have their own privacy policies," Yang said.
Google will also add more content to some of its help centers so users can more easily find privacy-related information. It will also add a new privacy tools pageGoogle Privacy Center so that "our most popular privacy tools are now all in one place," he said.
Google has a preview of the updated version online now; it will replace the existing version on Oct. 3.
"Our updated privacy policies still might not be your top choice for beach reading (I am, after all, still a lawyer), but hopefully you'll find the improvements to be a step in the right direction," Yang concluded.
The update came the same day that Google's privacy policy came under fire from a California-based consumer group. Consumer Watchdog purchased space on a Times Square jumbotron to show a loop of a15-second video that portrays Google CEO Eric Schmidt as an evil ice cream man stealing your information at will. The group wants Congress to enact "don't track me" legislation similar to "do not call" lists.
Also on Friday, Google settled a class-action case regarding its Buzz social-networking feature. The company will hand over $8.5 million, which - after covering attorneys fees and expenses - will be donated to Internet privacy and education groups.
"Long, complicated and lawyerly—that's what most people think about privacy policies, and for good reason," Mike Yang, associate general counsel at Google, wrote in a blog post. "So we're simplifying and updating Google's privacy policies."
Google will make two different types of changes. First, it will delete 12 product-specific policies that the company finds repetitive.
"These changes are also in line with the way information is used between certain products—for example, since contacts are shared between services like Gmail, Talk, Calendar and Docs, it makes sense for those services to be governed by one privacy policy as well," Yang wrote.
Google also plans to cut out some of the more redundant language and make the phrasing more user-friendly. "For example, we're deleting a sentence that reads: 'The affiliated sites through which our services are offered may have different privacy practices and we encourage you to read their privacy policies,' since it seems obvious that sites not owned by Google might have their own privacy policies," Yang said.
Google will also add more content to some of its help centers so users can more easily find privacy-related information. It will also add a new privacy tools pageGoogle Privacy Center so that "our most popular privacy tools are now all in one place," he said.
Google has a preview of the updated version online now; it will replace the existing version on Oct. 3.
"Our updated privacy policies still might not be your top choice for beach reading (I am, after all, still a lawyer), but hopefully you'll find the improvements to be a step in the right direction," Yang concluded.
The update came the same day that Google's privacy policy came under fire from a California-based consumer group. Consumer Watchdog purchased space on a Times Square jumbotron to show a loop of a15-second video that portrays Google CEO Eric Schmidt as an evil ice cream man stealing your information at will. The group wants Congress to enact "don't track me" legislation similar to "do not call" lists.
Also on Friday, Google settled a class-action case regarding its Buzz social-networking feature. The company will hand over $8.5 million, which - after covering attorneys fees and expenses - will be donated to Internet privacy and education groups.
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