Thursday, February 23, 2012

AGs challenge Google on new privacy policy

Attorney General George Jepsen joined with attorneys general of 36 states and territories Wednesday in raising strong concerns about a new privacy policy by Google, Inc., scheduled to take effect March 1 for all users of Google products and services.

Under the new privacy policy, Google gives itself the freedom to combine users’ personal information from services such as YouTube with Gmail and all other Google products.

“This not only raises personal privacy issues, but it makes the collected personal information an attractive target for hackers and identity thieves,” Attorney General Jepsen said. “Google has not given users a real choice to participate and the policy makes it practically impossible to opt out, short of exiting all Google services,” Jepsen said.

In a letter to Larry Page, Google’s chief executive officer, the attorneys general outlined their issues and requested a meeting with the company as soon as possible to “work toward a solution that will best protect the privacy needs of those who use Google’s products.”

Attorney General Jepsen, who has been in contact with Google about potential issues with the changes to its privacy policy, joined the request for a meeting to foster a national discussion.

The attorneys general said Google’s policy appears to invade consumer privacy by automatically sharing personal information consumers provide for one Google product, such as Gmail and YouTube, with all Google products.

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Source: shorelineplus.com
By: Attorney General George Jepsen's office

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