Google updates privacy policy

Google updated its privacy policy on Friday, a day after a video cartoon featuring the Internet firm's chief giving away ice cream to snoop on children aired on a giant screen in Times Square.

"We're simplifying and updating Google's privacy policies," Google associate general counsel Mike Yang said Friday in a blog post.

"To be clear, we aren't changing any of our privacy practices; we want to make our policies more transparent and understandable."

Google simplified wording in its privacy policy, "cutting down the parts that are redundant and rewriting the more legalistic bits so people can understand them more easily," according to the attorney.

The California-based Internet giant packed more information into product help pages to make it easier to find and added a new privacy-tools page to the Google online Privacy Center, Yang said.

The announcement came a day after a nonprofit consumer rights group had a "Don't be evil?" animated clip shown on a "Jumbotron" screen above the masses coursing through Times Square in Manhattan.

A cartoon version of Google chief executive Eric Schmidt was shown cruising a residential neighborhood in an ice cream truck, spying on children and disclosing their parents' Internet browsing habits.

"We like ice cream as much as anyone, but we like privacy even more," Google said in response to an AFP inquiry regarding the video.

"That's why we provide tools for users to control their privacy online, like Google Dashboard, Ads Preference Manager, Chrome incognito mode and 'off the record' Gmail chat."

Google noted that information about its privacy tools can be found online at google.com/privacy.

(c) 2010 AFP