Google explains its policy changes again

INTERNET SERVICES OUTFIT Google is still dealing with the fallout from its announcement that it is changing its users' privacy policies.

In a blog post and attached letter it has reassured its users and other parties that it is changing policies, as opposed to users' privacy settings, and will continue to treat its users' information with respect.

"Protecting people's privacy is something we think about all day across the company, and we welcome discussions about our approach. We hope this letter, in which we respond to the members' questions, clears up the confusion about these changes. We're updating our privacy policies for two reasons," said Pablo Chavez, director or public policy at Google

These two reasons are simplicity, and ease of use, he added, and are an attempt by the company to meet the increasing demands of regulators.

"We're trying to make them simpler and more understandable, which is something that lawmakers and regulators have asked technology companies to do," he explained. "By folding more than 60 product-specific privacy policies into our main Google one, we're explaining our privacy commitments to users of those products in 85 per cent fewer words."

The other reason is ease of use, and although the headlines at the time suggested that Google would benefit from account-wide policy sharing, the firm said that actually its users stand to gain the most.

"We want to make our users' experience seamless and easy by allowing more sharing of information among products when users are signed into their Google Accounts. In other words, we want to make more of your information available to you when you're signed into Google services."

Google's privacy policies will change on 1 March, and until then it is offering its users reassurances about what will not change. Chavez said that private information will still remain private, and that Google will not sell its users' personal information to advertisers. µ