Don't You Feel Safer Now That Google Added A Link To Its Privacy Policy?
from the phew! dept
One of the more idiotic accusations thrown at Google of late was this idea that it was somehow a problem that it didn't link directly to its privacy policy from its home page. It had a privacy policy. That privacy policy was easy to find. Almost no one actually reads its privacy policy -- but a bunch of privacy groups who surely had more important things to spend their time on got all upset that Google refused to link from its front page. It appears that Google has now given in and agreed to link to the privacy policy, oddly removing the word "Google" from its copyright notice and replacing it with a link to the privacy policy.Perhaps more idiotic is the response from a bunch of privacy groups claiming that this somehow makes a difference. It doesn't. It's privacy theater. It looks good, but it means nothing. People still won't read the privacy policy -- and even if they did, they probably wouldn't even remember what it said. Where a privacy policy is linked from a website is meaningless compared to what a company actually does to take the privacy of its users seriously. Getting up in arms over whether or not Google links to the privacy policy from its front page is a joke. And, oh yeah, some are noticing that just linking to the privacy policy probably does not fulfill the legal obligation required by California's law on linking to privacy policies. Perhaps these "privacy advocate" groups have something else to complain about now.
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Filed Under: aclu, eff, hype, privacy, privacy policies, privacy theater
Companies: google
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I do feel much better.
Viacom vs Google $1 billon they think is worthless
http://www.techdirt.com/articles/20080703/0154271581.shtml
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Re: I do feel much better.
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Smelly things
Also, I love cheese and eleete is awesome too. Mort is just rotting meat and not very tasty. Trust me, I know.
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But it was threre already
So ummm... What was the point again?
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Right on target
for the mentally impaired above.
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Sweeeeeet!
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Who cares...
It's a false sense of security and means absolutely nothing. They shouldn't even bother having the policy in the first place!
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So it is
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28
http://googleblog.blogspot.com/2008/07/what-comes-next-in-this-series-13-33-53.html
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None of the computer illiterate people I know are even aware that companies that run websites may even have a privacy policy. They either assume that all transactions online can be snooped on by hackers (if they're paranoid) or that everything they do is private.
Oh and by the way, don't look now, but your politics are showing.
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A good joke
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Re: Re: I do feel much better.
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Re: Smelly things
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Re:
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Re: A good joke
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Online Privacy
Personally, I think if they're going to bother with laws governing privacy notices on websites, they should all just say the following:
Everything you view, click, post, or otherwise have anything to do with on our site can at any time be revealed to a third party without notice of any kind given to you. Use at your own risk.
It'd save a fair amount of space on their servers, and be a lot more accurate.
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Re:
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Google has a homepage?
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Re: Smelly things
OH! I KNOW! "About Google..."
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Overreaction...
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Just Google It!
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today, i can finally feel safe.
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So, um, what was the point?
Look out, Yahoo and Microsoft- you may be next.
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and...
And, if they remembered what it said, unless they are lawyers willing to do legal research on the terminology, they certainly won't understand the legal implications of the terminology used.
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