Google Shares "Good to Know" Privacy Tips
The topic of online privacy has been in the news lately. A lot. We think it's important that people understand the privacy options available to them, and stay in-the-know about how the websites they use the most handle privacy. Two of the most used websites in the world, Facebook and Google, came under fire recently for privacy encroachments. But they have also been lauded for recent enhancements. To keep you up-to-date, here are some of the latest developments.
Recently, Google launched Good to Know, a privacy portal. With internet safety tips, tutorials, videos, and a jargon buster to explain technical terms, Good to Know provides information on managing your data to improve your online experience and using Google's tools to protect your privacy online.
The Google+ privacy guide is particularly useful, as it explains in plain language what data is being collected, when it's being shared, and how to control sharing. Google+ will also soon take another step to improve privacy and user control.
At the Web 2.0 conference last week in San Francisco, Google's Senior Vice-President of Social, Vic Gundotra, mentioned that Google+ would soon support pseudonyms and other forms of identity. Gundotra didn't elaborate, but allowing people to choose how to be known on Google+ will be a welcome development for some privacy advocates who maintain people should be able to choose how their information is displayed.
Google's focus on privacy comes after learning from past mistakes. In a few weeks Google will discontinue Gmail Buzz, which landed the company as defendants in a class-action lawsuit for disclosing information without user consent. The settlement, finalized this week, requires Google to accept stricter oversight by the Federal Trade Commission.
Facebook's recent changes, especially the introduction of the timeline feature, drew criticism from industry insiders as well as consumers. The Daily Mail recently reported that app called Facebook Disconnect, a browser extension that stops Facebook from tracking the other sites you visit, has been downloaded over 150,000 times. Facebook has made some recent privacy enhancements, including a feature that lets you view your own profile as any of your friends see it and monitor how your profile appears publically. This makes it easier to control which posts, media, and personal information you present to different social groups.
It's important that users have the tools to understand how to properly control their privacy settings online. We're glad to see that Google and Facebook are bringing greater attention to the ways users can choose the best privacy options for themselves on these popular social networking sites.
Recently, Google launched Good to Know, a privacy portal. With internet safety tips, tutorials, videos, and a jargon buster to explain technical terms, Good to Know provides information on managing your data to improve your online experience and using Google's tools to protect your privacy online.
The Google+ privacy guide is particularly useful, as it explains in plain language what data is being collected, when it's being shared, and how to control sharing. Google+ will also soon take another step to improve privacy and user control.
At the Web 2.0 conference last week in San Francisco, Google's Senior Vice-President of Social, Vic Gundotra, mentioned that Google+ would soon support pseudonyms and other forms of identity. Gundotra didn't elaborate, but allowing people to choose how to be known on Google+ will be a welcome development for some privacy advocates who maintain people should be able to choose how their information is displayed.
Google's focus on privacy comes after learning from past mistakes. In a few weeks Google will discontinue Gmail Buzz, which landed the company as defendants in a class-action lawsuit for disclosing information without user consent. The settlement, finalized this week, requires Google to accept stricter oversight by the Federal Trade Commission.
Facebook's recent changes, especially the introduction of the timeline feature, drew criticism from industry insiders as well as consumers. The Daily Mail recently reported that app called Facebook Disconnect, a browser extension that stops Facebook from tracking the other sites you visit, has been downloaded over 150,000 times. Facebook has made some recent privacy enhancements, including a feature that lets you view your own profile as any of your friends see it and monitor how your profile appears publically. This makes it easier to control which posts, media, and personal information you present to different social groups.
It's important that users have the tools to understand how to properly control their privacy settings online. We're glad to see that Google and Facebook are bringing greater attention to the ways users can choose the best privacy options for themselves on these popular social networking sites.
