Google’s new privacy policy

Google has changed the rules to make it easier to get its hands on our personal data. Should we be concerned? Matthew Partridge reports.

What's the issue?

Search engine giant Google has recently changed its privacy policy. It will now share users' data across various services. This means, for example, that users' old web searches will influence the results they get when they access Google-owned online video website, YouTube. The company points out that it has consolidated more than 60 different privacy policies during the process. However, it will also be much harder for users to opt out of sharing their data. This has caused anger among consumer groups and regulators.

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Dr Matthew Partridge
Shares editor, MoneyWeek

Matthew graduated from the University of Durham in 2004; he then gained an MSc, followed by a PhD at the London School of Economics.

He has previously written for a wide range of publications, including the Guardian and the Economist, and also helped to run a newsletter on terrorism. He has spent time at Lehman Brothers, Citigroup and the consultancy Lombard Street Research.

Matthew is the author of Superinvestors: Lessons from the greatest investors in history, published by Harriman House, which has been translated into several languages. His second book, Investing Explained: The Accessible Guide to Building an Investment Portfolio, is published by Kogan Page.

As senior writer, he writes the shares and politics & economics pages, as well as weekly Blowing It and Great Frauds in History columns He also writes a fortnightly reviews page and trading tips, as well as regular cover stories and multi-page investment focus features.

Follow Matthew on Twitter: @DrMatthewPartri