In March, Google will change its privacy policies, as always in the interest of its users. The unification of more than 70 currently used privacy codes will have to serve to reassure the federal agency that deals with the protection of personal data and to take advantage of it to introduce significant changes to the research system. There are good reasons to worry.
In the post announcing the initiative, Google is trying to convince users that the unification process is a gesture of benevolence and that the future possibility of combining the information that the user provides to one of its services with that provided to others its services will make browsing online a simpler and more intuitive experience. And to make users even happier, Google will also launch personalized search at the same time, a system that will take into account the personal characteristics of the questioner when selecting answers.
According to reports from the Nieman Lab new media study center, Tweeter and Facebook were the first to become suspicious, noting that Google's initiatives violate the code that the company itself had given itself, as they will privilege his social networks over others e they will no longer make searches “objective” as promised.
Many observers are wondering if it's a good thing that Google can collect and unify so much information about users, from searches that are performed, to data from one's web page, to information on where one is. The Economist wondered bluntly whether, in reality, instead of wanting to serve users better, Google isn't trying instead to better serve advertisers. The upcoming news will allow the search giant to identify users in more detail, in order to reach them with the advertising closest to their interests. Furthermore, there will be serious problems for those who had decided to "compartmentalize" their lives, with an online activity dedicated to work and another to private life which will now inevitably mix.
But it would be wrong to target only Google, given that Facebook is also enriching its offer of applications that make users increasingly satisfied and less and less protected by privacy. Soon, at the end of this process, many companies will get rich with our money. And we will be pleased
