William Carleton, Counselor @ Law: Google to Mine SMS Text Messages

Google to Mine SMS Text Messages

By William Carleton // September 8, 2010 in Google, Privacy

Google has posted a preview of a new privacy policy that it states will take effect in October.

Here's a link to a redline of the prospective changes, marked against the current Google privacy policy.

One interesting new addition: a focus on how Google might use information associated with SMS text messages. See the following new language underscored and in blue:

User communications – When you send email or other communications to Google, we may retain those communications in order to process your inquiries, respond to your requests and improve our services. When you send and receive SMS messages to or from one of our services that provides SMS functionality, we may collect and maintain information associated with those messages, such as the phone number, the wireless carrier associated with the phone number, the content of the message, and the date and time of the transaction. We may use your email address to communicate with you about our services.

Nothing coy in that disclosure!

I can't help but think that carrier specific information might eventually be of use to Google in partnering with the various carriers on mobile broadband and "private Internet" services (Google's two proposed exceptions to net neutrality).

Also of note: a prior sentence about Google's use of aggregated, non-personal information has been deleted. I may follow up on that later this week.

via wac6.com

Posted via email from Whistleblower