Google will be integrating all the information it collects about users into a single privacy policy. This is raising concerns among privacy advocates and shrugs from people who prefer the convenience over their personal data.

You make the following statement regarding the new policies which I believe is inaccurate

I respectfully disagree with you matttw809. My reading of their privacy policy is that they DO use the content of your email to direct advertising. Directly from google:

"Is Google reading my email?

No, but automatic scanning and filtering technology is at the heart of Gmail. Gmail scans and processes all messages using fully automated systems in order to do useful and innovative stuff like filter spam, detect viruses and malware, show relevant ads, and develop and deliver new features across your Google experience."

http://support.google.com/mail/bin/answer.py?hl=en&answer=1304609

It is the internet.....use it at your own risk.....if you are not ashamed of what you are doing, then go ahead and do it.  I will say I was freaked out when Boston.com started having ads about items I recently researched on Amazon.com, but there was a way to turn that off, thankfully.

Google doesn't "read" your email.  They have written algorithms that will search your emails for certain words that pair it up with ads paid by companies.  There isn't a person going through your email reading through your conversations.  Besides, Facebook does it, your mobile phone does it, your Google search does it.  As long as you use the internet, you're exposed.

If you choose to use the internet, you should acknowledge that your information will be out there.  You can be smart about it and learn how to maximize your control over your privacy.  It's like learning how to drive: you need to read the driver's test manual in order to know the rules of driving, you need to learn how to drive your automobile (car, truck, motorcycle, etc.) by either reading how to or taking a lesson, and then you go drive around.  Ignorance is not an excuse to blame others.

Besides, wouldn't you want ads curbed toward your interests rather than having those annoying non-relavant ads coming up?  Gmail and Google search has already been doing this for awhile; it's not new.  They will be streamlining the privacy database.  It'll be better for the user too: instead of worrying about multiple Google softwares, websites, content (blogger, Youtube, iGoogle, Google+, etc.) you just have to worry about one.

For those worried about it, go to your Google Dashboard and do some exploring.  You'll find that you have a lot of control over what Google can store and what it can't store.

Lastly, most, if not all of Google content is for free.  You always have the option of purchasing an email program without advertisements.  You always have other options as well in terms of search sites, video content sites...etc.  Just saying! 

I use Firefox as my browser on my iMac. While I have a gmail account, I rarely use that one - it's one of my spare email accts. Once I read about Google's privacy policies, I changed the browser used (at the top right of Firefox) to Yahoo, which I believe uses Bing as its search engine. Simple as 1-2-3. While I still use youtube, another google product, there won't be any NON-music searches on any google product anymore.

This post has been removed.

In Response to Re: What do you think about Google's new privacy policies?:

I think Google has come up with the perfect solution. I,m an Engineer and use Google search engine often. I am also a tool freak and love getting ads about tool sales and new tool items on the market. I,m not ashamed of any search I do and don,t see myself deleting anything from my profile. Thanks Google for your free services.

Meh. I have nothing to hide.

How many of the people complaining have Facebook accounts? Facebooks privacy policies are much more difficult to understand, settings are much harder to change, the privacy policies changes all the time, forcing you to reset any custom settings and they give out your information to people in ways that Google doesn't. I deleted my Facebook account because of their privacy settings and issues.
While people like Mr-hertz clearly don't understand the concept of privacy (whether you have anything to hide or not is irrelevant, it's private), most of the reaction to this is overblown. Google's privacy policy is clear to read and you can opt out of the data collection with ease. I don't want my information collected and Google respects that and allows me to opt out while still using the vast majority of their services. Facebook doesn't do that.
This is much ado about nothing.

It is a huge invasion of my privacy. I don't want help from Google to  select which products I want. In fact I will never use anything I see on a pop up or next to a page I bring up.

It is absolutely crazy that they can take copies of pics you took with your phone, access your contacts, and prevent you from using other services on your phone without signing in.

Similarly, they can read your emails......totally unacceptable.

How long before they sell this information to governments for "ads" or governments subpeona it?

When are they going to start paying people for this information?  It obviously has value since they can sell it, thus the people providing the information should be compensated.

In Response to Re: What do you think about Google's new privacy policies?:


Yahoo is even worse than Google. They turned in a dissident to the Communist Chinese government on their own initiative, without even being asked to. Use a truly private search engine, such as https://duckduckgo.com or https://startpage.com if you want real privacy.

BTW, selling ads is not Google's only revenue stream. They also sell your personal information to private businesses, and possibly also to the government.

In Response to Re: What do you think about Google's new privacy policies?:


No matter what you say, no matter what you believe, no matter what you do, there will be some people who object and will use it against you. If you discuss a medical problem you have, it can be used to discriminate against you in employment without you or the AG finding out.

If you hold unpopular political views -- even ones that are totally consistent with the principles of American democracy -- you can be discriminated against, which helps to silence legitimate dissent.

In response to BDCJoeAllenBlack's comment:

On Google's end, they certainly aggregate the personal information they gather from each of their properties (google search, gmail, google+, maps, youtube, etc).  So I don't see the harm to an integrated privacy policy and one place to go to make requests of google regarding their individualized data.

What I don't get is Google's big push to convert everybody to real user names (as opposed to the long term accepted practice of aliases for profile / posting).  I use the same screen name all over the internet.  It's my twitter user name, which links back to my personal website.  I'm an easy find.  But that's not really the point.  Google knows who its users are. Why push them to publish their real names on google+ and youtube?