It's all about Google!

Hello Everyone,

This is going to be my first real blog post.

There is a lot of debate going on about the issue of privacy in the digital era. Not even one day goes by without us hearing something about identity theft, privacy violation, or illegal use of data. Today was no exception.

While Google is counted as a good friend of most of us, it is surprising to know that Google’s name is very often involved in privacy violation law suits, and believe me, Google's new privacy policies are not making this any more right (or perhaps wrong?!). You can find a long list of Google's battles here.

Today, I came across this Washington Post article about another of these battles of privacy involving Google. Privacy advocates are once again concerned about Google's new policies violating the agreement made a while ago after Google was charged with exposing information of Gmail users when rolling out Google Buzz. There are legal concerns about Google overstepping privacy rights by creating more robust profiles of users, stitching together profiles of users across various Google services. Some Europeans have already asked Google to halt the changes.

Many of us that use Gmail have recently gotten an email that informs us about the changes to be made in Google's Privacy Policy. I am not sure how many of us actually have read the email, but even if we have, according to the EPIC "Google’s announcements fail to either disclose or adequately explain that user data will be consolidated for the proposes of benefiting advertisers through improved targeting of users.” For those of you who do not know what Google has changed, you can read about it here and here.

There are also many debates going on about the legal side of the story which I will not go into.

I think the issues rising from Google's new policies concerns us all. Google claims that the users can stay anonymous if they are not logged into any Google services. For me, Google is the go-to for email, calendar, online document editing, and of course web searching. It is impossible to take advantage of all of these services without logging in. So, the questions that come to mind are: how much information should I provide when I am logged in, and how can I protect them better?

It is important to understand the risks and think of a solution before it is too late. I really want to know what you think about this issue and wether or not these new policies will affect your relationship with Google. You might also want to check out this video about what Google's only solution for your privacy protection!

Have a wonderful weekend!