Utah Attorney General Mark Shurtleff was among many attorneys general countrywide who sent a letter saying they were concerned about Google's planned user privacy changes.
The National Association of Attorneys General wrote that they were concerned about the changes that would include the sharing of user's personal information across Google's many online applications. (Read full letter here)
"The fact that now they are sharing information beyond certain platforms, like Gmail now being shared with YouTube, or whatever other application they have, is a great concern to us. There's some things you can't Google, and that's my privacy," said Shurtleff.
Shurtleff says that, along with other attorneys general, they are not ruling out litigation if Google does not respond to the letting in the coming week.
Google emailed a statement saying that their privacy policy does make their privacy rules easier to understand and reflects their desire to create a "seamless experience for signed in users." They say that they have given users extensive prior notice and will continue to offer users more choices and control on how to use their services.
Gmail users were notified of privacy changes in January with the following statement that says in part:
Dear Google user,
We're getting rid of over 60 different privacy policies across Google and replacing them with one that's a lot shorter and easier to read. Our new policy covers multiple products and features, reflecting our desire to create one beautifully simple and intuitive experience across Google.
We believe this stuff matters, so please take a few minutes to read our updated Privacy Policy and Terms of Service at http://www.google.com/policies. These changes will take effect on March 1, 2012.
