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Google last night announced changes to its policy about the management of personal data of users and the conditions of use, which shall go live on the 1st of March. The main novelty is the joining of more than 60 different documents about the protection of privacy, into a single document. At the same time this also means a unified treatment of users within all services, in other words, merged and unified storing of user data collected on all Google services.

Although users have single Google account, which allows login to all services with the same password and user name (eg. YouTube, Gmail, Calendar, Google Search, etc..), Google did not consolidate the data collected. This means that browsing YouTube did not affect user experience in Gmail. From now on, the influence of a single database will have visible effects. For example, anyone who lives in Washington, and watches videos about NBA, will see in Gmail, Google ads for tickets to the Wizards game in Washington.

Google explains that there are more advantages of the new regime. On the one hand, the policy is easier to understand, as it is more clearly explained in a single document and no longer scattered across dozens of documents. On the other hand, Google says that users will get a better user experience. Based on the searches on YouTube or Google ads will be adjusted in Gmail, etc.. In addition to more personalized ads, Google also promises better search results, as they will correlate with the user's preferences.

Google will collect data only when you are logged on. Spying on the basis of malicious cookies and IP-numbers, while you are not logged into a Google account, will not be an option. The ecosystem includes also Google Android phones, where the user is more or less all the time logged into a Google account, so Google knows almost everything about his actions, and even its location.

For anyone who disagrees with the policy, it remains only to close the account. Interestingly, their competitor Facebook in the settlement with the U.S. government on November last year, promised that it will not significantly change the privacy policy, without the prior consent of each individual user (opt-in).





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