UK data watchdog 'looking into' Google+ mission creep

[raelynne]

UK data watchdog 'looking into' Google+ mission creep

Exclusive Blighty's Information Commissioner's Office is currently "looking into" Google's recent ID verification rejig, The Register has learned.

I'll be looking for the results of this with interest. The UK and European courts have been previously successful in standing up to Big IT Business, so I'm hopeful they can do it again.

Comments

[falena]

Thanks for the link!

[xenacryst]

Hrm. That article has a little blurb that I've seen elsewhere, but not seen expanded:

The company's product veep Bradley Horowitz responded to recent criticism levelled against Google's identity verification tweaks, which in the next few days will lead to the mass deletion of private profiles for the firm's products.

(emphasis mine)

This worries me. If this is what it says it is, my RL profile is going to get deleted, because I made it private - not searchable, and many of the fields locked down to viewable only by me. Does anyone know if I'm interpreting this incorrectly? I sure hope I am, because it makes no sense for Google to offer up the ability to keep one's profile private and then retaliate against that by summarily deleting all private profiles.

[quinfirefrorefiddle]

Hi, here from seekergeek's post.

It sounds to me like they're deleting some private profiles for rules violations, not just deleting all private profiles. Also, there's this:

Horowitz said he wanted to "debunk myths" about what some see as a downright creepy ID verification shift at Mountain View, by saying his company "aspired" to have "great solutions" for the likes of "teenagers" and "disadvantaged populations".

But such an aspiration clearly isn't good at yielding revenues, as Google's money-shy YouTube has demonstrated only too well.

He added that other Google accounts would not suffer the same suspension state as Google+, if an individual violates the firm's common name policy.

In other words, Gmail, Calendar, Blogger, etc all remain active. The one thing he failed to mention: New sign-ups to these services won't be able to do so anonymously anymore.