Google announces privacy settings change across products; users can’t opt out
http://www.washingtonpost.com/business/technology/google-tracks-consumers-across-products-users-cant-opt-out/2012/01/24/gIQArgJHOQ_story.htmlGoogle said Tuesday it will require users to allow the company to follow their activities across e-mail, search, YouTube and other services, a radical shift in strategy that is expected to invite greater scrutiny of its privacy and competitive practices. The information will enable Google to develop a fuller picture of how people use its growing empire of Web sites. Consumers will have no choice but to accept the changes.
The policy will take effect March 1 and will also impact Android mobile phone users, who are required to log in to Google accounts when they activate their phones.
The changes comes as Google is facing stiff competition and recently disappointed investors for the first time in several quarters, failing last week to meet earnings expectations. Apple, perhaps its primary rival, is expected to announce strong earnings Tuesday.
Google’s changes are appeared squarely aimed at Apple and Facebook, which have been successful in keeping people in their ecosystem of products. Google, which makes money by selling ads tailored to its users, is hoping to do the same by offering a Web experience tailored to personal tastes. “If you’re signed in, we may combine information you’ve provided from one service with information from other services,” Alma Whitten, Google’s director of privacy, product and engineering wrote in a blog post.
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All the easier for Google to toss you over to the copyright goons for watching YouTube videos. The bill is in the mail/email.
Or when a private detective/cyber bounty-hunter or public copper subscribes in 2013 to the new 'GoogleSleuth' info database and you end up in civil court or criminal proceeding for thought crimes.
= new reply since forum marked as read
Back on the computer now.
Process started last year : EU wants Facebook, Google to comply with new data rules.
(Reuters) - Social-networking sites such as Facebook, or search engines such as Google, may face court action if they fail to obey planned EU data privacy rules, European Union justice chief Viviane Reding said on Wednesday.
Reding will propose an overhaul of the EU's 16-year-old laws on data protection in the coming months to enforce more safeguards on how personal information is used.
Much of the revamp would target sites such as Facebook, Google, Microsoft or Yahoo, because of rising worries about how they use information they collect about users' personal habits.
Reding wants to force companies to allow Internet users to withdraw any data held by the websites, calling it the "right to be forgotten," as well as make the firms provide more information on what data is collected and for what purpose.
http://www.reuters.com/article/2011/03/16/us-eu-data-privacy-idUSTRE72F69S20110316
There are some later progress links lurking around from the past week or so. Agreement to proceed should occur 29th January, next week, but will then need approval of individual states to beome law and that will take a while.
Am I misreading your comment?
and it's very silly of us to play this game of parsing words, but irresistible to Webheads, so: Maybe dipsydoodle is saying hurting ("fucking"
FB and Google is a worthy price for upholding more important values? You know, like if someone says the Patriots will be fucked, they might be a Giants fan.
I don't use FB because I just don't trust it for a host of reasons, privacy just one smidge on the list.
Glad the EU is taking the lead on this. Thanks for that, Europe.
So what are your thoughts on the Galaxy? I want to get a tablet later this year but am not an apple person, so Galaxy is on the short list. Would you do it again?
you're talking to an idiot who sometimes just buy things because they seem a good idea at the time....lol.
I'd got a Galaxy S 'phone about 18 months ago so the Galaxy 10.1 seemed a reasonably natural choice. I got it when I had a problem with the broadband - the fixed line telephone line in the house went down for a fortnight and I'd had a second broadband run in for backup from the cable company - not being able to do work can lose me more than the cost of gizmos like tablets etc. Now I use the tablet on the sofa while watching DVDs to keep an eye on here and ebay etc. To me its a convenience device.
I did download the full instructional manual onto one of the PCs but have yet to plough through it. Doubtless all will become clear in time.
Meanwhile if I want to post anything which needs cutting and pasting I use one of the PC's. Must say I do find touch screens very aggravating - you wouldn't believe the number of adverts I open by accident. I'd suggest you search both the latest models of each manufacturer to see which is better - I can't draw that comparison. There may be some chatter on the subject elsewhere on DU and there are loads of internet links on that subject too.
As a side issue it does take really good pictures using the camera and screen shots are simplicity itself - just press a button.
easy:
Just need a large pocket.
Because we all have different tastes?
(Although I do realize that minimizing a thing by calling it 'tired', 'old' or 'pointless;' while not adding anything substantive to the dialog, is certainly a most self-validating way of feeling better about oneself... )
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