Andrew Russell
Biz/Tech Reporter

Google announced it will unify more than 60 privacy agreements to help the company provide a more streamlined service and help better target advertisements towards users.

“The goal is to simplify things for people by creating one set of rules for all of Google’s products” said Ryan Burton, director of information and technology & client services at Humber.

“I’m a big fan of simplicity and clarity. With this new policy people more readily understand what [Google] can and can’t do.”

Plans to create a single privacy policy for all their services like YouTube and Gmail have created a divide between users valuing simplicity and those favouring privacy.

“Google should be commended for communicating more effectively with stakeholders,” said Ann Cavoukian, information and privacy commissioner of Ontario, in an email statement. “However, streamlined privacy policies and user-friendly interfaces alone are poor substitutes for real, effective privacy.”

Other users are concerned combining data collection from Google’s different services will blur the lines between what is visible in their public and private digital lives.

Alan Shanoff, a practicing lawyer who teaches media law at Humber, said he is concerned because Google is such “a mammoth organization with so many tentacles. Now everything will be available in a single database.”

“It shows that our privacy laws are inherently weak,” he said. “We don’t have much choice but to consent because it’s unlikely you’ll go somewhere else.”

Changing the terms of agreement is not uncommon, and is allowed under a provision included in the original agreement when people first begin using services like Gmail.

“Google, much like other sites, is changing their agreements,” said Burton. “They are providing a service and you have the choice to accept or go somewhere else.”

Whether it’s with Google or any other online agreement, reading the fine print in the terms and conditions section is important.

“It can be difficult to sift through an agreement, but most people don’t appreciate what they are signing,” said Burton.

Google’s new policy will also affect mobile phones using the Android operating system.

“To be honest, I wasn’t worried,” said Eric Houstoun, 26, first year visual and digital arts student and Android user. “I have a high level of trust with Google and my personal information. It’s in their self-serving interest to do right by the user.”

The new privacy policy was announced to customers on Jan. 30 but won’t take effect until March 1.