Google Brilliantly Updates Privacy Policy
Google has done something very smart that I think should be made a legal requirement: A privacy policy that show you what’s changed. There was a lot of discussion at Microsoft’s Search Champs about privacy, and I don’t think anyone disagreed with me when I made the point that updated privacy policies should compare the old policy with the new one.
Google has used the very effective (although somewhat evil-looking) tack of what they call “redline”. On the Google Talk privacy notice page, you can click a link to the redline page, that shows the changes. A sample paragraph:
You can uninstall the Google Talk software at any time through the “Add or Remove Programs” Control Panel. When you uninstall the software, Google Talk and its copies of all items, including text chats saved locally, are deleted from your computer. Your other files and applications remain unaffected. You may delete your contacts information or chat histories you have stored in your Gmail account by deleting them through Gmail or by deleting your Gmail account from the Google Accounts page. Because of the way we maintain this service, such deletion may not be immediate, and residual copies may remain in our offline on backup systems media. For more information about Gmail, please see the Gmail Help Center and Privacy Notice.
Every company should do this. They should have to do this. What good is notifying me that you updated your policy if I have to use the Google cache and compare side-by-side to find the difference?
