Privacy Policy

[djohnston]

Bit off-topic. But, here's a good article on DuckDuckGo.

[kenboldt]

He he he he he he 

Google's Privacy Policy Change Is Freaking Me Out

these text to video videos are pretty amusing, I have to say.

[ElCuervo]

He he he he he he 

Google's Privacy Policy Change Is Freaking Me Out

these text to video videos are pretty amusing, I have to say.

...oh.

 

[menotu]

[menotu]

By Claire Davenport - Feb 3, 2012 (Reuters)

EU regulators want Google to halt new privacy

A group of European regulators has written to Google Inc calling on it to halt the introduction of its new privacy policy, saying it needs to investigate whether the proposals sufficiently protect users' personal data.

Google said in January it was simplifying its privacy regulations, consolidating 60 guidelines into a single policy that will function across all its services, including YouTube, Gmail and Google+, its social network site.

The Article 29 Working Party, an independent body that brings together data protection authorities from each of the EU's 27 countries and the EU's executive European Commission, said it needed to examine Google's plans more thoroughly before the search group's policy comes into effect on March 1.

"Given the wide range of services you offer, and the popularity of these services, changes in your privacy policy may affect many citizens in most or all of the EU member states," the group wrote to Google Chief Executive Larry Page on Feb. 2.

"We wish to check the possible consequences for the protection of the personal data of these citizens in a coordinated way," it said, explaining that France's data protection authority would be in charge of the investigation.

"In light of the above, we call for a pause in the interests of ensuring that there can be no misunderstanding about Google's commitments to information rights of their users and EU citizens, until we have completed our analysis."


Full article

[AndrzejL]

Go go European Union regulators! We don't need no stinking new Google policies! LOL

[kenboldt]

Go go European Union regulators! We don't need no stinking new Google policies! LOL

You mean no stinking same policies grouped together.      LOL

[AndrzejL]

No stinking google?

[menotu]

By Lore Sjöberg February 6, 2012  (wired)

Alt Text: 100-Word User Agreements for Google, Facebook and Friends

I think they can get their agreements down to 100 words that anyone can read in a couple of minutes and maybe 20 percent of users actually will. OK, 15 percent.

To prove it, I’m writing 100-word license agreements for some of the big players in the web sphere. Also, a web sphre is something Spider-Man can shoot at people.

Google

Why do you care what our user agreement says? We could put anything in here and you’d agree to it. You know why? Because you people love us. You! Love! Us! You’re all, “Oh please, Google, can I use you for e-mail? Can I stick my daughter’s quinceañera in Google Calendar? Can I put all my spreadsheets in you? May I watch videos of sleepy kittens? Oh, and can I please search you forever and always, please?” What are you going to do, switch to freaking DuckDuckGo? Here’s your user agreement: We agree you should shut up and use our stuff.

Facebook

We respect your privacy. You can control who sees your posts, your links and your damn Bejeweled scores by clicking Profile, then Personal Information, then Privacy Settings, then traveling across the Stormwave Sea to Hideaway Island and finding the one tree that, if you sing to it very sweetly, will point the way to the Golden Gully, wherein you will find the Privacy Elf. You must follow your heart or be lost forever. Once you have reached the Privacy Elf, answer his riddle and you can keep your mom from seeing what you wore for Halloween last year.

Yahoo!

By using Yahoo!’s services, including but not limited to Yahoo! Finance, Yahoo! Maps, Yahoo! Mail, Yahoo! Calendar, Yahoo! Games, Yahoo! Shopping, Yahoo! People Search, Yahoo! Music, Yahoo! Messenger, Yahoo! Dating, Yahoo! Jobs, Yahoo! Escort Services and Yahoo! Planetary Concordance and Asteroid Alert, you agree to apparently think it’s still 1998 and there aren’t better services out there that don’t think it’s cute to have an exclamation point in their name. Also, you agree to complain at the top of your lungs every time we make even the tiniest little change to Flickr, you big babies.

Amazon

Amazon agrees to enhance your shopping experience by:

1. Ensuring that when searching for the cheapest Blu-ray player, you have to wade through pages of connectors and accessories even though you specified the Blu-ray player category.

2. Shipping your six-pack of razors in a box the size of an airport shuttle bus.

3. Assuming, because you bought a Caillou DVD for your nephew, you’re obsessed with Canadian kids’ shows, and suggesting that you buy Passe-Partout and The Smoggies forever after.

4. Making sure you never, for a picosecond, forget there’s this thing called a Kindle and maybe you should buy one.

Twitter

You, hereafter known as “you,” agree to hold Twitter, hereafter known as “Twitter,” harmless and not at all liable for any mental distress, reduction of intellectual capacity, eye spasms, difficulty breathing, frothing at the corners of the mouth, flared nostrils, pounding headaches, pounding stomachaches, incessant sounds of still-beating hearts coming from under the floorboards, sleepless nights, listless days, interminable afternoons, allergic reactions, seething hatred, roiling hatred, burning hatred, fermenting hatred, soft pillowy hatred or hair-tearing, whether self-inflicted or imposed on loved ones, resulting from the upcoming deluge of half-assed, poorly informed, astonishingly misspelled political tweets you’re going to see this year.

http://www.wired.com/underwire/2012/02/alt-text-100-word-eulas/?utm_source=feedburner&utm_medium=feed&utm_campaign=Feed%3A+wired%2Findex+%28Wired%3A+Index+3+%28Top+Stories+2%29%29

[kenboldt]

Hammer, meet nail head.

[menotu]

Stephen Lawton - February 13, 2012 (scmagazine)

Google faces suit over proposed privacy policy

The Electronic Privacy Information Center (EPIC) filed suit in federal court seeking to compel the Federal Trade Commission to stop Google from enacting its new privacy policy prior to March 1, when Google will combine its more than 60 privacy policies into a single document. The proposed changes would allow Google to combine user data from multiple Google properties without the users' consent.

EPIC says in its filing that these changes violate the Google consent order with the FTC, signed Oct. 13, 2011, which, “bars Google from misrepresenting the company's privacy practices, requires the company to obtain users' consent before disclosing personal data, and requires the company to develop and comply with a comprehensive privacy program.”

According to the suit, Google is required to keep information about a user of a given Google service separate from that of other services. It also says users will have no opt-out option.


Full article


epic.org

[kenboldt]

I really don't get the issue here.

It's the SAME FREAKING COMPANY PEOPLE! It's not like they are suddenly taking your banking records from your bank, and your health information from your doctor, and adding it to the information you gave them when you signed up for gmail and then selling that to the guy in the white van hanging out on the street corner.

If I signed up for an online account with Sears, and then when I was in the store, I gave them a delivery address for something I purchased, not only would I not be upset if they combined that information, I would EXPECT it.  It's the same freaking company.  They are simply combining information from THEIR products, not other company's products, and not information that you haven't wilfully divulged.  It is information that you have given Google.  The fact that it was in different services that they offer is irrelevant.

If you don't like Google, and you don't want them to have your information, that's fine, don't give it to them and don't use their products.  If you like their products, use them, and just be aware that they will use the information that you give them to direct ads to you that are relevant to you and your interests.  It's not something that you are paying for, it's not something that you are forced to use, so stop whining and "vote" with your clicks and the products, services, and companies you use.

If I don't want John Smith to know that I like hockey, I don't tell him, and I don't talk to him about hockey.  I certainly don't go up to him and say, "hey John, I like hockey", and then get upset when he tries to talk to me about hockey.

[Bald Brick]

+1 to Ken Boldt. (Except for the part about liking hockey.)

[kenboldt]

+1 to Ken Boldt. (Except for the part about liking hockey.)

There are people that don't like hockey?  mind = blown   
But seriously, it's a fantastic sport and it puzzles me that it isn't more widely followed.

[joechimp]

I would say it but I am thinking................NO !