How Google could connect your data points

The folks at ESET LLC, a security software company in Slovakia, hope to change your mind. They just published an illustration of Google’s “Data Mining Bonanza” to show how deeply the company can probe for information on you across its platforms. The graphic highlights the wide range of data that can be gathered and correlated on you, from Gmail and Google Maps to Android and, of course, search. Google obsessively alerted users to a new privacy policy that went into effect March 1 and gives the company greater freedom to mix-and-match data from disparate parts of its empire. For example, Google could use someone’s search history to target ads at them when they’re watching YouTube. Some privacy advocates have complained that the new policy was a bait-and-switch, that users have become dependent on services that they began using under different privacy expectations. Officials in Europe are investigating whether the policy changes violate European Union data-protection rules, and dozens of attorneys general in the U.S. have called the new policy an invasion of privacy. Google says the policy changes are meant to improve the relevance of targeted ads. It says that its policy “will make our privacy practices easier to understand, and it reflects our desire to create a seamless experience for our signed-in users. We’ve undertaken the most extensive notification effort in Google’s history, and we’re continuing to offer choice and control over how people use our services.”