Our commitment to privacy

We get asked about privacy a lot. We recently held a roundtable in Australia to discuss Google's approach to privacy. Here is a summary of what we discussed.

Privacy is a pretty modern concept. There was no such thing as privacy when we humans were all living in the same cave. In the post industrial revolution society, a fairly recent phenomenon in human history, each new information and communications technology - such as cameras, newspapers, radio, TV - has brought convenience and great services, and challenged and changed our notions of privacy.

The Internet has given millions of people access to vast amounts of information and created useful tools and services, and it also presents new challenges for protecting people's 'personal information'.

The concept of privacy is subjective and there is no one size fits all privacy standard. For example, people's attitudes towards sharing personal information about themselves online on social networking sites is more relaxed than in a direct face-to-face environment. Moreover, the privacy expectations of a 21 year old university student will be different from those of an 80 year old grandfather.

Online, companies are supremely accountable to their customers. Competition is one click away, and there is more transparency and accountability than ever. We're exposed to intense scrutiny, and that's a good thing.

Google's mission is to organise the world's information and make it universally accessible and useful. We pursue innovative ideas and push the limits of existing technology to provide increased access to information. We recognise our responsibility to protect your privacy. We live and die by your trust. We believe it is possible to deliver leading-edge services and to give you control over your personal information.

Google's approach to privacy is founded on transparency, choice and security. We tell you what information we collect and what we do with it, and we build innovative tools and features that put you in control of your information. We don't hold data hostage. We protect your personal information and use it responsibly. We don't sell it, we don't collect it without permission, and we don't use it to serve ads without permission. Education is also important. The Google Privacy Centre, with a wealth of information and videos on each product, is linked directly from the Google home page.

Many Google services, including Search, can be used anonymously - without providing any personally identifying information at all. For products which you use with more personal information such as Gmail, Docs and Picasa, you need to have a Google Account and to log in. Signing in to your Google Account unlocks a personalised experience such as Web History to give you personalised search results based on your activity when you're signed in. We also give you the ability to share information between the services you use in a way that's transparent to you, such as accessing your Gmail contacts from your Google Calendar or adding an event mentioned in an email to your Google Calendar.

We use information in aggregate form in our server logs to work out how people are using Google and to make overall improvements. We don't need personal information to do this. For example, we use our aggregated server logs to figure out when something's not working properly or crashes, what website layouts are the fastest to load in your browser, how many users clicked on a particular ad or search result, or how many search results people click on before they find what they're looking for, as well as to detect spam, click fraud and viruses. There's more detail in this blog post from Hal Varian on how Google uses data.

Finally, we believe that the best privacy protection is in good product design. As the web evolves and our notions of privacy with it, Google will continue to innovate around privacy and build privacy protections into our products from the ground up, as we are doing today with Google Wave.

Posted by Iarla Flynn, Policy Team

Supporting National E-Security Awareness Week

Once again, this year we're proud to partner with the Australian Government for National E-security Awareness Week, between 5–12 June 2009. We share a commitment to helping you secure yourself and your information on the internet.

The week is designed to raise awareness of the steps that you can take to keep yourself and your family secure online. If you do nothing else all week, stop for a moment to come up with a better, stronger password for your personal online accounts and transactions.

For advice on passwords, and other e-security information, go to www.staysmartonline.gov.au



Google has a large number of initiatives to help keep you and your computer secure (many of which are detailed on our official Online Security Blog and Australian Google Safety Tips Page). For example:

In conjunction with Stop Badware.org, we place warnings in our search results for websites that our testing has determined to host or distribute badware. If you search for a site that Google has determined to be potentially dangerous, you will see a warning in the search results.

Earlier this year we launched the Australian Safety Centre on YouTube, containing straightforward online safety tips and resources from experts and prominent Australian safety organisations including Bravehearts, Reach Out, Kids Helpline, NetAlert.gov.au and Cybersmart Kids Online.

We offer all Australians a free collection of software (Google Pack), which contains Norton Security Scan and Spyware Doctor Starter Edition, to detect and remove viruses, worms, spyware, adware, trojans and keyloggers.

Posted by Iarla Flynn, senior public policy manager Australia

Supporting National E-Security Awareness Week

Posted by Alan Noble, Head of Engineering - Australia & New Zealand

Google has a large number of initiatives to help keep you and your computer secure (many of which are detailed on our official Online Security Blog). For example:

• In conjunction with Stop Badware.org, we place warnings in our search results for websites that our testing has determined to host or distribute badware. If you search for a site that Google has determined to be potentially dangerous, you will see a warning in the search results.
  
  
• We offer all Australians a free collection of software (Google Pack), which contains Norton Security Scan and Spyware Doctor Starter Edition, to detect and remove viruses, worms, spyware, adware, trojans and keyloggers.
  
  
• Our Gmail users enjoy sophisticated anti-virus scanning, as well as our well-recognised and innovative spam filters and anti-phishing measures.
  
  
• Our enterprise security products are helping many Australian businesses keep their networks secure.
  
  
• Our security experts regularly provide tips to avoid getting hooked by online scams.
  

But there's more that you can do to stay safe online, which is why we're partnering with the Australian Government for National E-security Awareness Week, from June 6-13. We share a commitment to helping you be secure online so that you can get the most out of the Internet.


The week is designed to raise awareness of the steps that you can take to keep yourself and your family secure online.

For more information, visit the Australian Government’s Stay Smart Online website. You can sign up for the new Stay Smart Online Alert Service. You’ll be sent regular emails that will alert you to the latest e-security risks, and provide useful advice for how to manage them. For more information about the types of online scams, visit Scamwatch. To learn more about how to protect yourself against identity theft, visit Protect your ID.

The online environment is constantly changing so make sure you’re keeping up to date—with your software, your passwords and the latest risks. Follow these simple steps:

1. Install, update and use your security software.
2. Use strong passwords and change them regularly (see the Official Google Blog for more info).
3. Use common sense when sharing personal information online.
4. Think before you click on email offers — if it looks too good to be true it probably is!
5. Be smart and stay informed.