Google has announced that it plans to buy DoubleClick, the number one firm in digital advertising. The largest concern is whether Google will combine the two data systems. With both systems working together Google could map online searches as well as most other online activities, including what sites are visited, what videos are watched, or what ads a particular user clicks. With the combination of two large advertising networks, centralized information could become target for hackers of overzealous government investigators. Many believe this is giving Google the ability to have too much personal information and their privacy policies have not caught up with the pace of the company’s expansions.
Google claims it does not plan to integrate the two. CEO Eric Schmidt did state that Google may possibly think about an opt-in system for consumers. Repeat ads could be avoided and ads could better target customers. All personally identifiable data such as names and e-mail addresses will be kept apart.
I feel Google will have to keep their word about not integrating services. This would cause many unhappy users who felt they could trust Google. Google has been changing their policies on what information is stored in databases; much of the information is being deleted after a period of months. I believe as Google grows they will do their best to foresee privacy issues and keep their customers content.
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