Ganceann - 2:57 pm on Jun 10, 2007 (gmt 0)

The masses never really read a privacy policy in the first place - they simply click yes to agreeing to whatever policy is in place and continue to use services after privacy policy updates... by default they have accepted the policy changes.

The more concerning matter is that 100s of websites do track user behaviour away from their sites without disclosing the information explicitly. Many sites say they track behaviour on their site - and mention links to 3rd party sites - but fail to disclose that they continue to monitor user activity after a user leaves their site.

The problem is these type of sites are normally associated with services people do find useful and necessary in some cases... they have no option but to accept the privacy statements even though it tracks all use. Google is no different here than many other sites - but Google does have significantly more data than most other companies and therefore potentially the biggest threat to privacy.

In my opinion privacy on the internet has failed to exist for many years due to improvements in user tracking. It only exists in theory and many people interpret privacy issues differently... there is no clear definition of what privacy means to everyone.