Google is releasing a new privacy policy that will go in effect March 1st.
First they’re going to have a single privacy policy instead of having one for each of their services. This idea of consolidation doesn’t just stop at their new privacy policy. It also continues for their whole user experience.
“Our new policy reflects our desire to create a simple product experience that does what you need, when you want it to”1.
So this means their services will be working together to provide a single user experience. For example, if you plan meetings on Google Calendar, it will alert you based on your current location, traffic conditions from Google Maps that you will be on-time or late. Since all of this streamlined into one personal identity with Google, you’re viewing history, what you watch on YouTube can demonstrate a profile of what you like and don’t like.
This information is valuable to advertisers. By creating a single user profile of viewing habits and activities using Google services, advertisers can purchase this information to direct specific personalized advertisements to users.
Here’s an example provided by NPR.com:
“Google…could surmise you are a basketball fan by all those YouTube videos you watch and then pair that with the Miami location you’ve set in Gmail. They would then serve ads for the Miami Heat”2.
