Google to give closed-door briefing on policy changes

Google CEO Larry Page won't be testifying before Congress this week. In response to an invitation last week from Rep. Mary Bono Mack, R-Calif., who asked Page to appear and explain the company's user policy changes, two other Google executives will appear.

Google deputy general counsel Mike Yang and public policy director Pablo Chavez are preparing to deliver a closed-door briefing on Thursday, says Ken Johnson, Mack's senior adviser. The audience will be restricted to members of the House Subcommittee on Commerce, Manufacturing and Trade, which Mack chairs. Rep. G.K. Butterfield, D-N.C., is the ranking minority subcommittee member.

Google announced last week that it will consolidate dozens of user agreements for its most popular services into one privacy agreement encompassing them all. Starting March 1, the company will have the ability, policywise, to correlate what a user does across most of its online services, whether a user accesses them on PC Web browser or via any Internet-connected mobile device using the Google Android operating system.

"These changes might not otherwise be troubling but for one significant change to your terms of service: Google will not permit users to opt out of this information collection and sharing across platforms and devices," Mack says.

Critics object to the all-or-nothing proposition. Any user of Google search, who also registers to use Gmail, Google Apps, YouTube, Google+, Picasa and other popular Google services, will be covered by the new, over-arching user agreement, says Jeffrey Chester, executive director of the non-profit Center for Digital Democracy.

"This will make it harder for a user to opt out," Chester says. "If you like even one of Google's services, you'll likely forgo the extra work and knowledge it takes to do more granular privacy control. This decision was designed to help Google boost revenues and avoid a clash with privacy cops in Europe."

Google asserts that users will maintain "choice and control," that Google is not collecting any more data than it already does and that its intent is to improve user experience.