Lawmakers to Google: ‘We want to make sure’ unified policy protects consumer privacy, calls for FCC probe

E. Betters

Rep. Edward Markey, a prominent U.S. lawmaker on privacy issues, announced earlier this week he was concerned with Google’s new privacy policy, and he further addressed his worries on Thursday by calling for a probe into Google’s handling of consumer data.

Google’s offerings include its globally popular search engine, Gmail, YouTube, Search plus Your World, Google+, and more, which are streamlined under the merging of 60 privacy policies intended to “mean a simpler, more intuitive Google experience.” The unified policy’s primary objective is to assemble and integrate information from across Google’s products and services as a single throng of data that the Mountain View, Calif.-based Company can use to target advertising dollars.

Markey released a Jan. 26 statement contending that the new policy changes should allot premium consumer control, and in the meantime, he plans to ask the Federal Communications Commission to investigate if such options exists for Google users:

“All consumers should have the right to say no to sharing of their personal information, particularly when young people are involved.  Google’s new privacy policy should enable consumers to opt-out if they don’t want their use of YouTube to morph into YouTrack.  Consumers – not corporations – should have control over their own personal information, especially for children and teens. I plan to ask the Federal Trade Commission whether Google’s planned changes to its privacy policy violate Google’s recent settlement with the agency.”

More information is available below.

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Google now allows for nicknames on Google+

Jake Smith

When Google+ first launched, a good majority of people went crazy when they saw you could not use nicknames on the service. Luckily, Google is about to change that. Google’s Bradley Horowitz made a post on Google+ today, announcing that users will soon be able to add a nickname next to their full name in the coming days. You can see this modeled above with blogger Louis “Luigi” Gray.

The setting will appear under Edit Profile, where you can select your name by clicking on “More options.” It is worth noting that this will change your name across all of your Google Profiles.

For names that Google has deemed unacceptable, you can challenge it for personal use by providing the following information to the review team:

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Twitter and Facebook engineers create ‘Don’t Be Evil’ tool to alter Google’s controversial social results

Jordan Kahn

Search Engine Land pointed us to a new browser bookmarklet dubbed “Don’t Be Evil” created by Twitter, MySpace, and Facebook engineers to alter the controversial social search results displayed by Google since its most recent “Search plus Your World” update.

Earlier this month Google began rolling out the new “Search plus Your World” update to Google.com search results. The update consists of Personal results, Profiles in Search, and People and Pages, all of which provide prominent quick links to Google+ content relevant to your search query. It sparked controversy as the update arguably favors Google’s own Google+ social network over relevant social content from competitive services.

The tool is being open-sourced and available free. After performing a search, you simply click the “Don’t Be Evil” bookmarklet in your browser of choice (no IE support), and the social “Search plus Your World” results will be altered to also include content from Twitter, Facebook, MySpace, Tumblr, Github, Foursquare, LinkedIn, and a hand full of others. The image above shows Google’s Search plus Your World results on the left with the altered results after clicking the “Don’t Be Evil” on the right.

You might be thinking that the tool is instead favoring websites like Facebook or Twitter, much the same way Google is accused of favoring Google+. However, the creators explained that the tool actually utilizes Google’s own search results to determine the most relevant social content to display. Search Engine Land explained exactly how it works:

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President Obama to answer user submitted questions in live Google+ Hangout

Jordan Kahn

From David Beckham, and the Muppets, to Newt Gingrich, Google has hosted several special Google+ Hangouts giving users a chance to get their questions answered and interact with politicians and celebrities. Perhaps its most important Hangout yet is going to take place on Jan. 30 with President Obama, who is set to answer the top- voted user submitted questions in a live-streamed interview.

Starting from now until Jan. 28, you can head over to the White House YouTube channel to upload a text or video question submission for the President. Users will decide on the best questions by casting their vote, and a few select individuals will be chosen to speak with the President live during the Google+ Hangout. YouTube noted in its blog post that video submissions are preferred and should be approximately 20 seconds in length.

“Your Interview” with President Obama will be streamed live on Jan. 30 at 5:30 p.m. ET. You can watch the live stream then and submit your questions here.

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Google’s new account sign up requires Gmail and a profile, automatically joins users to Google+

Jordan Kahn

According to a post on the unofficial Google Operating System blog, Google redesigned the account sign up process and now requires users to create a Google Profile, a Gmail account, and automatically join Google+. This will certainly help the continued growth of Google+ that currently sits around 90 million users, along with 350 million active Gmail users, according to Larry Page’s announcement during the Google’s Q4 2011 earnings call.

Before the redesign that has not yet rolled out to everyone, users could create an account by simply entering an email address or creating a Gmail account. According to the report, the new form requires users to fill out a name, gender, and optionally a mobile phone number. However, perhaps the most significant change is the fact that new Google account holders will have a Google+ account created automatically, and they will have to fill out a Google Profile during the sign up process. Users can still delete their Google+ and Google Profile if they wish. They will also be able to delete Gmail after creating an account. The change seems to have rolled out only through Google’s homepage and a few services, with the old sign up form still accessible elsewhere.

Google explained on the new page:
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