Google to discuss new privacy policy, you are not invited

[nsane.forums]

Google has been called to Congress to talk about its new privacy policy but dont think about trying to attend as this meeting will be held behind closed doors.

Google, quite possibly, knows more about you than your own family does. As the company collects data to better align the advertisements to your interest, many feel that it is also be invading your privacy too.

Google has gone to great lengths to make it known that its privacy policy will soon be changing. The new policy will allow Google to cross-examine data from all of its products to tailor the advertisements and search results to align with your needs.

Yes, it all sounds great when it comes to creating a better product for the consumer but there is one big problem, “Google will not permit users to opt out of this information collection and sharing across platforms and devices” according to the USA Today.

Congress is surely a bit concerned about this and has called Google to explain the changes and will do so this week; but don’t even think about attending. The closed door event will only be open to a few members of congress from the House Subcommittee on Commerce, Manufacturing and Trade.

It is unclear why the meeting will be behind closed doors and who actually requested that the meeting be held privately. The irony is not lost in that a new privacy policy that is designed to make things more transparent will be discussed privately to members of Congress who are publically voted in to office.

Google is working to consolidate its products and give the end user the best experience possible and to do that it needs data from all of its sources. Google knows that it has a power stance on the market and even if consumers do not agree with the change, they will most likely accept it as it will remain invisible to them.

View: Original Article

[Ambrocious]

This is the reason I don't use Google anymore, except to search for pictures or something very specific.

And this illustration is the reason I now use DuckDuckGo:

When you search the Internet,

search engines now show different results to different people.

(Try a Bing search for "climate change")

Results are tailored to who you are,

based on your search history

(See your Google search history.)

and your click history.

Since you often click on things you agree with,

you keep getting more and more

of what you already agree with,

(Try a Google search for "barack obama")

which means other stuff gets demoted (effectively filtered).

This raises the question: what are you missing?

(Try a Google search for "guns.")

In other words, you are living in a Filter Bubble

that promotes things it thinks you'll like,

(Try a Google search for "egypt")

and demotes (effectively filters) out some of the rest,

(Try a Google search for "Is Osama really dead?")

which may limit your exposure to opposing information.

Unfortunately, it's not easy to pop your filter bubble,

because the technology is used so much

across the Internet.

We offer you an alternative: a search engine

that breaks you out of your Filter Bubble by default,

plus other differences like real privacy.

For more on Filter Bubbles, check out Eli Pariser's Ted Talk.

For more on DuckDuckGo, check out our about page and search!