Could Governments Track Citizens After Google's Privacy Change?

By Kate Knibbs | Thu Mar 01, 2012 2:17 pm

Google's privacy policy changes may allow governments unprecedented access to user data, potentially monitoring of citizen activity despite regulators' scrutiny.

Google's new privacy policy, in effect March 1, consolidates all its services, including Gmail, Google+, YouTube, and Google Shopping, under a single privacy umbrella. The search giant will track all searches across every platform, so if governments request information about a single service, they will have access to the user's entire activity.

Google's privacy changes come at a time when law enforcement officials are requesting more data, particularly to locate and sniff out criminals, and they make it easier for governments to expand their access.

Official requests for Google data have increased significantly in the past six months, with requests up 29 percent in the U.S. and as much as 39 percent in Germany, demonstrating intensified interest in people's online actions.

The condensed privacy policy means the search giant would give up user information for all its services at a government request, rather than offering the specific data relevant to the investigation. The Protecting Children from Internet Pornography Act, recently introduced in the House, for example, would require companies like Google to hand over compiled data under the auspices of protecting children. The act is meant to target potential child pornographers, but Google's privacy may operate in concert with the proposed law, turning over all Google-related user information, not just potentially suspicious postings.

"Let's say you have subpoena of records for someone who might have posted something to YouTube," said Marc Rotenberg, director of the Electronic Privacy Information Center. "Traditionally, you might limit that subpoena to YouTube activity, because that's what is relevant to the investigation. What Google has done by combining user data is basically make all of their activity on Google potentially relevant to an investigation."

"As a practical matter it makes it easier for Google to disclose a lot of information it wouldn't have disclosed before," he added.

Despite the privacy policy's potential function as a tool for increased surveillance, U.S. and global regulators raised concerns about the new policy's implications. In the U.S., Congress grilled Google over its policy terms, accusing the company of exploiting users' personal information to increase ad revenue. The E.U.'s justice commissioner characterized the privacy changes as breaching European law and is calling for a thorough investigation.

The debate over online privacy is unlikely to lose momentum as more users gain awareness of how detailed and systematic online tracking has become. The scope of Google's services makes it difficult to avoid using its products. Governments' information requests may raise concerns about Google's new privacy policy, but the new plan may also help them gather more evidence for law enforcement agencies.

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Editorials & Opinion By Kate Knibbs
Tech leaders gathered at the Mobile World Congress in Barcelona, while Google's controversial privacy policy went into effect.

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