Sunday, February 24, 2013

Privacy: Korean reaction to Google's new policy

A little over a year ago, Google announced a change in its privacy policy that received a great deal of attention here in Korea and around the world.   I did a short post about it at that time, but somehow missed a more in-depth treatment of the subject in The Korea Times.  The Korea Times article was accompanied by the graphic at the left (click to see a larger version).Google’s new privacy policy took effect on March 1, 2012. It "...consolidated users’ private information stored across 60 of its services to create one profile. In other words, Google will have a better access to user data collected from Gmail and Google search to YouTube and calendar to come up with more sophisticated targeted advertising."
The Korea Times article also noted that "The Korea Communications Commission (KCC), too, officially stated last week that Google violated the nation’s online privacy rule, which requires users’ consent before giving their personal information and to provide certain information in specific terms including how the company uses data, how long the data is stored, how users can erase it, and the contact information in case they want to file complaints of privacy breach. “We considered the new policy is vague and difficult to understand,” said Kim Kwang-su, a director of KCC’s privacy policy division. And Google doesn’t give an option of opting out, which is against the guidelines, Kim added."

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