In an effort to reduce the complications of having over 70 privacy documents and terms of service across their products, Google will be combining most of them to make a single overarching Google Privacy Policy and Terms of Service for most of its products, such as Google , Google Calendar, Google search, Gmail, and YouTube.
The changes will go into effect on March 1, with the internet services giant notifying Google Account holders starting today via email, and a link on its search page. Google hopes to integrate its “different products more closely,” and deliver a “beautifully simple, intuitive user experience” across Google products.
Clarifying, Google says the new privacy policy will be written in a clear and easy to understand manner, explicitly detailing the user information the company may use to deliver personalized and individually relevant search results and advertisements. The aim will be to treat a user as a single individual across all of Google’s products.
The new move was announced on a Google blog post, with Alma Whitten, Director of Privacy at Google’s Product and Engineering division, insisting that Google’s treatment of privacy will not change. Users will still be able to migrate their data away, and be reassured that their data will not be sold or shared to any third-parties.
Google is also looking to provide users with more control about how their information is used, with services like Ads Preferences Manager a step in that direction. The company has definitely learnt from its mistakes with the launch of Buzz, when it inadvertently shared users’ oft-used email contacts.
To check out the changes to the Google Privacy Policy and Google Terms of Service, visit the Google Policies & Principles page