Google to Simplify Privacy Policy

Posted 09/03/2010 at 1:50pm | by Ryan Whitwam

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As Google puts it, their privacy policies are, "long, complicated and lawyerly." We'd say that's probably accurate. Have you ever tried to read one of those things? Google is looking to change that by updating their privacy policies with less jargon, less volume, and more clear language. The Google blog post does go to great pains to point out that this is not an excuse to sneak less favorable policies into the mix, this is just about making things more readable.

Google will first be reducing the total number of privacy documents they maintain. Most products are covered by the main Google privacy policy, but some products have their own. So 12 of these sub-documents will be going away. For example, Gmail, Docs, Talk, and Calendar will use the same policy, since they are all governed by Google Contacts.

The Big G will also be rewriting the more legalistic parts of the main policy so average people can read and follow more of it. There is also a lot of repetition that is currently in it for the lawyers' sakes. That should all go away. Google expects all the changes to be done by October 3. Then at least you'll be able to figure out just how Google is spying on you. Have you ever read the Google privacy policy? Will you now?