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Google Chrome Privacy Notice

by Volker Weber

Your copy of Google Chrome includes one or more unique application numbers. These numbers and information about your installation of the browser (e.g., version number, language) will be sent to Google when you first install and use it and when Google Chrome automatically checks for updates. If you choose to send usage statistics and crash reports to Google, the browser will send us this information along with a unique application number as well. Crash reports can contain information from files, applications and services that were running at the time of a malfunction.

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Comments

I guess your German mindset shows. Americans are happy to sell their souls and privacy for a 25 cents discount. I tend not to worry too much about this stuff. (again maybe I should).

On a more general note, where u able to download the code ? The download link on the page you have referenced links to a dead link.

Ich glaube, dass Google das Payback des Internet ist. Alles umsonst und sooooo praktisch. Software für lau. Dokumente Online von allen Orten der Welt zu bearbeiten. Google will doch nur ein paar Daten. Ist doch alles anonym. Die 'unique application numbers' sind doch für Google viel besser als IPs. Wer schlau ist, lässt die Finger von einem Google-Account.

An aquantance of me was interviewing for a job at Google about 4 or 5 years ago. He did not take the job, he said that he had signed som NDA but that he could say that much that he would not be using any Google products anymore...

From what I understand from him and others, Google collect huge amounts of personal data. It is not a coincidence that when Gmail started, you had to get invitations. They basically tracked who you were/are friends with. And of course, as we all know, they store all the searches on google.com.
Now, with the application number, they can track people's surfing habits even better.

ich bin der gleichen Meinung wie mein über...vorgänger. Mann sollte sich auch ein paar Gedanken machen - wenn man seine Daten "einfach nur so" jemanden anderen überlässt. Sicherheit wird groß geschrieben - aber nur gegenüber dritten...

@Joel: true to some extent - my impression is that Americans tend to trust corporations and distrust the government, and that Europeans see it the other way around. In IT folks though there is almost universal distrust...

sooo.. google will implement "unique application numbers"?
Why dont create another Version of Chrome wich doesn't use these numbers? After all Google says it will release it as open source... ;-)

@ Karl-Henry Martinsson :
Google surely have a massive set of personal information, particularly with Gmail, but so far they have not gone into connecting the whole kit and kaboodle. They have the personal data of billion people, they have bought a successful (at the time) social network (Orkut), they have amazing money and they have the skills and are happy to redevelop applications.
However, FaceBook is the prominent player in SN, which means there is room for success for creative people.
Google must be like all those moguls : internally split into silos. That's fairly good news for all of us. We spend our time complaining about corporate and public offices inefficiencies, but in some situation these inefficiencies are very handy!

Bei Browsern gehört das doch schon zum guten Ton. In Sachen Opera und Internet Explorer lässt sich da sicherlich auch etwas finden.

I installed this morning and noticed it imports the passwords saved by my other browsers -- whether or not I want it to. Actually I didn't. I don't trust Google as much as they probably think I should.

As cnet.com reports, the Chrome EULA has a few parts which I wouldn't really like. Google reserves the right to update the software as the so desire, and they don't promise to let you know about this. And not only is Google recording your browsing habits, but apparently, they also reserve the right to content you create/upload using Chrome.

"By submitting, posting or displaying the content you give Google a perpetual, irrevocable, worldwide, royalty-free, and non-exclusive license to reproduce, adapt, modify, translate, publish, publicly perform, publicly display and distribute any content which you submit, post or display on or through, the services. This license is for the sole purpose of enabling Google to display, distribute and promote the services and may be revoked for certain services as defined in the additional terms of those services."

This is applicable to "Google’s products, software, services and web sites (referred to collectively as the “Services” in this document and excluding any services provided to you by Google under a separate written agreement)". I am not a lawyer, but this sounds very broad to me. E.g. is posting to my self-hosted blog using Chrome already covered by this, i.e. does Google now have a license for all my blog postings now? And how does that feel for companies who would want to use Google Docs in Google Chrome as an Office package? Putting confidential information in Google Docs probably wasn't a good idea before, but with this EULA Google actually seems to have the license to redistribute all that information.

Google is changing the EULA.

there are so many advantages and features with Chrome, such as it's speed, for example; now if only they would take care it's quirky cookie management...

I don't trust Google Chrome, feels like giving all my password to Bush !

Ceci n'est pas un blog

vowe.net is a personal website published by Volker Weber a.k.a. vowe. I am an author, consultant and systems architect based in Darmstadt, Germany.

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