Global Security, Privacy, & Risk Management

“Goodnight Sweetheart, Its Time To Go…” Away from Gmail…over Privacy March 1, 2012

Starting today, Google will consolidate over 60 (that’s right…60) privacy policies into one, big, fluffy, wonderful new privacy policy.  Unfortunately, some of the changes are less than appealing and are simply too much for me to live with.  You can read more about the changes on CNN.com.  According to Google: “We just want to use the information you already trust us with to make your experience better. “If you don’t think information sharing will improve your experience, you don’t need to sign in to use services like Search, Maps and YouTube. “If you are signed in, you can use our many privacy tools to do things like edit or turn off your search history, control the way Google tailors ads to your interests and browse the Web ‘incognito’ using Chrome.”  My beef comes from the fact that they will be compiling a personal ‘dossier’ on every user.  They crawl through Gmail to look for advertising opportunities etc.  After watching J Edgar on Vudu a few days ago, I don’t want to end up with a personal file. (that was a joke by the way)  In the event you decide to stay with Google, here is a guide published by the Electronic Frontier Foundation (EFF) that explains how to use the services while protecting your privacy to some degree.  Form more privacy related information, please visit: www.DrHeatherMark.com.