New Google privacy policy won't affect Apps for business, government
By Jon Brodkin | Published 2 days ago
The new Google privacy policy that lets the company collect, store, and share user-specific information across Google services apparently will not apply to businesses and governments that have signed contracts to use the Google Apps productivity suite.
"Enterprise customers using Google Apps for Government, Business, or Education have individual contracts that define how we handle and store their data," according to a statement reported yesterday by The Next Web and attributed to Google Enterprise Vice President Amit Singh. "As always, Google will maintain our enterprise customers’ data in compliance with the confidentiality and security obligations provided to their domain. The new Privacy Policy does not change our contractual agreements, which have always superseded Google’s Privacy Policy for enterprise customers."
Ultimately, consumers angry about the new privacy policy have little sway since they receive Google's services for free. Large organizations paying Google for services, however, can guarantee themselves more data privacy in contractual agreements.
After concerns were raised about how Google might use information collected from government customers, the US General Services Administration (also a Google customer) issued a statement saying, "Our usage of the Google Apps solution is governed by contractual agreement with Google and our prime contractor, Unisys. The solution is compliant with all federal regulations and requirements, including those regarding privacy and data protection."
Google's government track record isn't perfect, however. Despite a signed contract, the Los Angeles Police Department has refused to switch from an in-house e-mail and productivity system to Google Apps due to security concerns. But at least on privacy and tracking, Google has apparently assured the feds that everything remains fine.
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