Google Merges 60 Privacy Policies into a Single Document

Google has announced that it is making some big changes to its privacy policies and Terms of Service across all of its products. The changes will go into effect starting March 1st, but Google posted the new privacy policies for everyone to look over them before they go live.

The major change, and it is a big one, is that Google has now consolidated its many privacy policies into a unified one, along with product specific ones. 60 of its 70 privacy policies have been combined into a single one.

That sounds like good news for users, and it is, since they can read one document and know exactly how Google handles their data across the tens of services it provides.

"We’re rolling out a new main privacy policy that covers the majority of our products and explains what information we collect, and how we use it, in a much more readable way," Google's Director of Privacy, Alma Whitten, wrote.

The consolidation comes with one big caveat, most Google services and products now get to share data, that is, anything that one site has on you can be used by any other site that is covered in the new unified policy.

This move has been criticized as yet another move by Google that erodes user privacy and yet another piece of evidence that Google is indeed 'evil.' But it's not really, in effect, the move doesn't really change that much for users, though it does make it a lot clearer what Google has on you and how it can use it.

"The main change is for users with Google Accounts. Our new Privacy Policy makes clear that, if you’re signed in, we may combine information you've provided from one service with information from other services. In short, we’ll treat you as a single user across all our products, which will mean a simpler, more intuitive Google experience ," Whitten wrote.

A preview of the new unified privacy policy is available here. Several products, such as Google Books or Chrome, still have their own specific policies.