The bigger Google gets, the more worried privacy advocates grow. So, in an effort to make its policies and opinions more transparent, the search giant has launched a new “Google Privacy Channel” on YouTube.
Does anyone else smell an oxymoron? Still, it’s hard to complain about the channel itself – although it’s not exactly entertaining, (Online Video Watch writes, “it makes for some of the driest content imaginable”) it’s there for those who want it, and isn’t required viewing for those who don’t.
On that subject: currently, the Google Privacy Channel has just 22 subscribers and six videos that it can call its own. It remains to be seen if either number will increase over time, but there are, at least, some “Favorites” and “Subscriptions” that add to the selection.
Will this move win over privacy advocates and Google critics, then? It’s not likely – you never know what a person (or company) might be holding back even if they’re waving the flag of full disclosure. Also, Philipp Lenssen has an interesting, reading-between-the-lines interpretation of the Privacy Channel’s launch that won’t let anyone forget exactly what’s at stake.
Oh, well. This’ll nonetheless be something to keep an eye on – the number and type of videos on the Google Privacy Channel may well serve as an indicator of what sort of problems the company is (or isn’t) having.
