You may have noticed that Google
Google disagrees with that notion, of course. In a myth-busting blog post, Google walks down Redmond's criticism one by one to debunk them. The main point is, Google isn't doing anything new to exploit your personal information. The recent changes were meant to simplify an unwieldy bunch of separate policies per service into a smaller set of more readable language.
What's the big deal?
The company isn't exactly breaking new ground here, and I think we users should appreciate having less legalese to read before using any of Google's online services. I mean, you do read every privacy policy you come across, right? Yeah, just before ignoring the click-wrap user license. Just what I thought.
It might be instructive to show just how standard Google's data use actually is, so here's a sampling of quotes from the privacy policies of prominent online businesses. Let's learn how these guys use our personal information:
The Google policy that started this ruckus: "We use the information we collect from all of our services to provide, maintain, protect, and improve them, to develop new ones, and to protect Google and our users. We also use this information to offer you tailored content -- like giving you more relevant search results and ads."
Microsoft: "Microsoft collects and uses your personal information to operate and improve its sites and services. These uses include providing you with more effective customer service; making the sites or services easier to use by eliminating the need for you to repeatedly enter the same information; performing research and analysis aimed at improving our products, services and technologies; and displaying content and advertising that are customized to your interests and preferences."
Yahoo!
Facebook: "We use the information we receive about you in connection with the services and features we provide to you and other users like your friends, the advertisers that purchase ads on the site, and the developers that build the games, applications, and websites you use. [...] Granting us this permission not only allows us to provide Facebook as it exists today, but it also allows us to provide you with innovative features and services we develop in the future that use the information we receive about you in new ways."
AOL
eBay
The Motley Fool (yes, of course we have a privacy policy): "The Motley Fool collects personal information to provide you, the user, with the best and most personalized experience possible, and to provide our advertisers with an efficient way to reach the right audience. In short, by knowing a little about you, The Motley Fool can deliver more relevant content and advertisements to you."
Foolish takeaway (Egg Foo Young, please!)
These are but tiny snippets out of much larger policies, of course. But I think the information use is at the heart of all the privacy concerns you see bandied about these days. And as it turns out, pretty much anybody that knows anything about you will try to use that information to improve its services and -- yes -- to make its advertising more effective. That includes us here at Fool Hill, Google, and Microsoft.
I think Redmond is busy throwing stones in a glass house, but I'm also sure that this standard practice is pretty benign and not much cause for alarm in the first place. We're using all these amazing online services every day, whether they're branded as Google, Bing, or AOL, and it's all free most of the time. Don't forget that there's always a business behind the pixels.
Redmond is absolutely allowed to recruit customers to its own ad-supported services by any legal means necessary, but there's also nothing wrong with Google's new policies. If you don't believe that Web services have a right to monetize their precious eyeballs the best they can, I don't think you believe in capitalism at all. Feel free to sit out the game-changing revolution that keeps Bill Gates up at night while the rest of us embrace the business possibilities of an open Internet.