14 DAY TRIAL // Google's new privacy policy is set to become active today. It hasn't been enabled yet, but it should be, momentarily. There's been a lot of talk, mostly uninformed, about the new privacy policy and there have been plenty of people making up all sorts of scenarios.
Unfortunately, one thing that hasn't happened, it seems, is people actually taking the time to read the new privacy policy, which has been available for weeks. It's not that long and it really is written in a language that everyone will understand.
Google is once again announcing the change and it is also being a bit clearer on which things changed and which haven't.
For one, there will be only one privacy policy governing most products and replacing 60 previous documents that said pretty much the same thing. Another thing that it makes clear is that Google products already worked together and the new policy only grants Google a few more rights.
"Our privacy policies have always allowed us to combine information from different products with your account—effectively using your data to provide you with a better service," Google explained.
"However, we’ve been restricted in our ability to combine your YouTube and Search histories with other information in your account. Our new Privacy Policy gets rid of those inconsistencies so we can make more of your information available to you when using Google," it said.
Access to YouTube and Google Search history should lead to better suggestions, where applicable, but it will also be used for better ads. Now, ads across all Google properties will be personalized based on search history, if you have it enabled. Previously, only search ads relied on search history.
Both Google Search history and YouTube history can be disabled, making the changes pointless. Of course, you can also choose to search and watch YouTube while signed out, removing all concerns.