What Actually Changed in Google’s Privacy Policy ⇥

Rainey Reitman:

Previously, Google search data was kept separate from other products. Even when users were logged in, Google promised not to share the information they gathered about you from your Google search history when customizing their other products. Considering how uniquely sensitive user search history can be (indicating vital facts about your location, interests, age, sexual orientation, religion, health concerns, and much more), this was an important privacy protection. 

The new privacy policy removes the separation between YouTube, Google search, and other Google products. By describing the change as “treat[ing] you as a single user,” Google intends to remove the privacy-protective separations from YouTube and Google search

Seems shady. If any other company did this, customers would abandon them. Unfortunately, Google is so big that you can’t wholly step away.