Google Changes Its Privacy Policies
As many of you have probably seen already, Google is changing its privacy policies, effective March 1, 2012. These changes will be effective across all of Google's platforms, and users will not be able to opt out. A user's only choice to avoid these changes will be to leave Google's search engine, Gmail, Calendar, Search, and YouTube; there is no "opt out" or selective acceptance/rejection of these new policies. In this regard, Google noted that it remains committed to data liberation, "so if you want to take your information elsewhere you can."
These changes are likely to draw FTC scrutiny, especially in light of the recent decision by Google to incorporate data from its social network, Google+, into search results, which has already resulted in a FTC antitrust investigation.
Amazing that some commentators, such as http://masslawyersweekly.com/2012/02/01/beware-as-google-peeks-%e2%80%94-legally-%e2%80%94-at-your-personal-info/, think "Google will now combine all your data from all Google services, and users won’t be able to opt out" when Google's privacy policy has cited this type of sharing since 2005.