The
issue rose recently when Google’s argument in a U.S. court filing on
the privacy case, went viral as the report stated the internet giant
“has finally admitted they don't respect privacy". This triggered a
large number of protests. Later the company said that the statement was
misquoted in the report.
A Google spokesperson was quoted by Guardian as saying, “We take our
users privacy and security very seriously; recent reports claiming
otherwise are simply untrue. We have built industry-leading security
features into Gmail.”
Let’s look at some of the privacy options Google provides to its users, as reported by B Pradeep Nair of TNN
Me on the Web
With
‘Me on the Web’, the users will be updated with any of their personal
data pops up and also they can decide what to be displayed about them on
the web.
Me on the Web is said to be a part of the Google Dashboard, which
features Google alerts, tips and resources to monitor as well as to
control an individual’s identity. The alerts are received through
emails, call and text message
A posting on Google's Public Policy blog said,
"Your online identity is determined not only by what you post, but also
by what others post about you -- whether a mention in a blog post, a
photo tag or a reply to a public status update".
Google Dashboard
Google
Dashboard lets users view and manage their personal data which is
stored in their Google account. The program allows individuals to have
preference for personalized settings. 
The data in the Dashboard is considered to be private unless the user
changes the settings of their account. If a user is not happy with their
presence in Google search history, then they can clear the whole history using Google Dashboard.
Ads Preferences Manager
Google
is currently sending updations to its Ads Prefernce Manager, this
allows users to adjust their gmail settings for personalized ads.
Google have now created a seperate Ads Settings page in the Ads
Preference Mangaer. The settings helps the users to get all the ad’s in a
single page, this includes ads on You Tube, ads on the Google Display Network and signed in ads on google search.
This feature allows the users to control and know what data is used to select advertisements.
Unlisted and private videos clips on YouTube
You Tube
has a new video privacy setting, which keeps clips from being seen by
others. The site offers a level of privacy to its users, making it easy
to share videos and also allows only a certain set of people to view the
videos.
The video sharing site You Tube, gives a number of options to share
videos online. The options are Public: This option allows anyone to
search and view the video, Unlisted: This option allows only the users
with the URL link view the video and the final option is Private: Only
people the user chooses can view the video
Account Activity
This
creates reports on the usage of Google products on a monthly basis.
Over a particular period of time, Google Account Activity shows how many
emails are sent, most popular contact, and from the place and time of
sign in.
Account Activity reports are way to help the user, keep a track on
their account. These reports help to make sure the users account is not hacked.
Reports are sent on certain incidents when an account is accessed from a
different geographical location, accessed from a browser that was never
used before and also when there is a sudden increase in usage of
mails.
Google Analytics opt-out
Website
publishers use Google Analytics to check the page views and traffic.
Google launched its Google Analytics opt out for users who do not like
to share their data.
Google analytics opt-out allows users to download and install add ons
for their browser that will block data from being sent from the computer
to web pages. The web pages use Google Analytics to track the usage of
users.
Google analytics opt out gives a sense of privacy to the users, as their data will not be sent to Google Analytics.
Google+ Circles
Google
circle allows users to connect easily with friends, family and
colleagues at work. Circles allow users to organize people into groups
for sharing across various videos and posts. The privacy settings allow
blocking and hiding the users in their Circles.
Circle helps people to filter the sharing content, set notifications to
posts from important people, to restaurant directions in Google Maps to breaking stories from your favorite news source. Circles also make sharing easy from anywhere in the world.
Google Web History controls
Google’s new policy allows users YouTube history to be used by all. But this can be avoided by keeping changing the settings to private.
Google allows users to change its settings; similarly YouTube also has
its own settings and allows users to change its settings so the history
can be private. It allows you to delete entries, pause collection or
turn off the service.