Google’s Privacy Policy Considered “Brutal Choice” by FTC Chairman

Google’s new privacy policy, which goes into effect on March 1st, has been called “a fairly binary and somewhat brutal choice that they’re giving consumers” by FTC Chairman Jon Leibowitz on C-SPAN’s Newsmakers. The new universal privacy policy by Google which covers all its acquired services including G-Mail, YouTube, Picassa, Google +, Android devices and more, seems to boil down to either you agree or you agree. As an internet user or Android phone owner users can’t really opt out of the agreement as they can’t use any of Google’s services otherwise, which is a fairly harsh consequence considering how far Google has embedded itself into the internet. The government itself has even expressed some worry, with 36 US attorney generals raising concerns over the new privacy policy. The backlash from Google’s attempt to streamline its privacy policy has even caused the company to launch an ad campaign trying to explain what it means for end users. In the end Google has been up front with its changes to its privacy policy, but as Jon Leibowitz asked is being upfront enough? What are your thoughts on Google’s privacy policy change?