Google announced new privacy tools Tuesday intended to give people more control over how they’re being tracked on the go or in their own home.
Google announced new privacy tools Tuesday intended to give people more control over how they’re being tracked on the go or in their own home, part of a broader effort by big tech companies to counter increasing scrutiny of their data collection practices..
Trouble is, few experts appear ready to celebrate Google’s moves.
CEO Sundar Pichai kicked off the company’s annual developer conference by noting that the company wants to do more to stay ahead of “constantly evolving user expectations” on privacy.
That focus echoed throughout the day, with the company demonstrating how many of its artificial intelligence capabilities — including some facial recognition and voice searches — are beginning to be processed on devices, rather than by constantly sending information to company servers.
Some critics, however, say Google’s privacy updates sidestep more substantial changes that could threaten its ad-driven business model.
“They’re sort of marginal improvements,” said Jeremy Tillman, president of Ghostery, which provides ad-blocking and anti-tracking software. “They are not bad, but they almost seem like they’re designed to give the company a better messaging push instead of making wholesale improvements to user privacy.”
The company also announced updates for its artificially intelligent voice assistant as well as a cheaper Pixel phone and a rebranding of his smart-home products.
Data privacy and security at Google and its Big Tech counterparts have been under the microscope for more than a year now. Facebook dedicated much of its own conference last week to connecting people though more private channels rather than broadly on the social network.
Google announced smaller but tangible changes across many of its products. The company makes billions of dollars annually by selling digital ads that are targeted at the interests people reveal through their search requests and data collected by Google apps and services.
