Google privacy changes go live tomorrow
(Read article summary)Amid criticism from a top French watchdog group, Google is set to launch its new privacy policy.
On Thursday, Google will enact its new, streamlined terms of service and privacy policy, which the search giant said would make for "a simpler, more intuitive Google experience."
The trade-off: Google will now collect and compile user data from all of its services, in order to provide what it calls improved search results.
The catch: Users can't opt-out of the new policy (although, Hayley Tsukayama points out today at the Washington Post, users can simply choose not to sign into Google before entering information into search fields).
"The result," Doug Gross notes over at CNN, "encapsulates perhaps the most basic conundrum of the modern Web. More information means better service (and potentially, more targeted advertisements). But that service (in this case more accurate search results, more interesting ads and new features that work across multiple sites) requires you to give up some of your privacy in return."
