Google Ordered To Change Its Privacy Policy In UK | Enforcement by 20th Sept?

Targeted ads, remembering search history, asking for my mobile and more and more... I am concerned about my privacy, as instead of making my life easier, as use Gmail, they steal information about me - where I live, what I do etc. I hate that, I also hate how they try to combine all their services together and get data from you with all possible means. Information is the new currency and yet, we provide it for free - just because we need a good search engine

I agree thelegalstop.

It's remarkable how Google has moved in many people's minds from a "friendly colleague" to the "unreasonable bully" - in such a short period of time.

I guess, in a way, this has been a long time coming. I mean, people have been debating on forums about whether google is evil or not for about a year or more now. And when tales hit the net about Google gathering information, the ones that said google was evil sat back and enjoyed their opinions being justified.

On the other end of the coin though, what about companies that place cookies on computers to see what their potential clients do online to help them simplify or add more focus to their marketing campaigns. IMHO it works more or less in the same way, they still gather information in a way, as well as applications that send crash reports, or an antivirus that sends new virus information from your PC to their headquarters.

The only real difference I can see between it all, is that most times, you're asked if its ok to take info from your PC, where Google didn't ask.

Fair points Dreamraven.

I am wondering if the time, when the Internet will turn into our greatest enemy, is far away or not?

It could go both ways, I think. It will either become our worst enemy, or a lot safer than it is now. In the end it depends on how governments react to it and how we as people use the net. At the moment, everyone is still a big part of that global village point of view and just about everything about you can be found online these days. So The less you want someone to know, the less you add online. Maybe? *Shrugs*

Having in mind the current technological advance, I cannot imagine what the world will be in let`s say 20 years. Would our children laugh that we have used keyboards or searched info in Google

It's interesting, with Panda and Penguin algorithms and a backlash of web masters, now privacy issues and end users asking questions, is this not the time for Bing to come blasting through with a slick marketing campaign and making quick political capital and grabbing some market share?

Instead they sit back and watch.

What we need is a genuine choice, then Google will have to rethink some of it's more aggressive policies as people vote with their feet.

Maybe we'll have an Apple search engine soon? I've given up on waiting for the Facebook one