U.S. Congress takes on Google over Privacy Changes

Privacy is the forefront issue once again as Congress is preparing to attack Google over their latest changes to their privacy policies. Several lawmakers are concerned with how Google will collect a user’s data across their services.

Members of the House Subcommittee on Commerce, Manufacturing and Trade, Mary Bono Mack and G.K Butterfield, wrote a letter to the Internet giant expressing their concerns on their privacy changes.

“We are concerned, however, with other changes to Google’s privacy policy, particularly with how a user’s data will be collected, combined, archived, and used across services,” they wrote.

Beginning on March 1^st, Google will be able to cross reference data from their users which is collected from their various services including Google Apps, Gmail, and Youtube.

Google fired back to explain the new changes as Google director of public policy Pablo Chavez wrote a blog post accompanying the letter.

“We’re not collecting more data about you. Our new policy simply makes it clear that we use data to refine and improve your experience on Google.”

Last year, the FTC reached a settlement with Google regarding complaints of unfair practices and the company would submit to reviews by an independent auditor.

Michael Tidmarsh is the Assistant Community Editor for ITKnowledgeExchange.com.  He can be reached at Mtidmarsh@techtarget.com.