Google has a new universal privacy policy
taking effect March 1. You probably received an email or notification
(or six) about it already. The policy mostly simplifies the rules of
what Google can do with your data across its many, many services, but it
also makes one thing really clear: Either you’re cool with Google, or
you aren’t.
If you like the idea of advertising being finely tailored to your
tastes and interests, of Google services trying to guess what they can
help you with, then you’re all set. But if you’re either specifically
concerned about Google having some rather particular details about you,
or more generally about having all your personal data eggs in one
basket, you definitely have alternatives. And they’re not the kind of
alternatives that require a beard, a cabin, and jars filled with liquids
of disconcerting provenance.
You can opt out of Google’s customized advertising,
but you can’t opt out of Google using something you search for to
change what you see on YouTube, or the ads you see in Gmail. But you can
opt out, in the most basic way, by using different services to get what
you need from the web. Here’s a skeptic’s guide to gaining back some
privacy while continuing to be connected.
