Here is googles
privacy policy for search, if you would like further details of the policy
please look here
Privacy Policy
Last modified: March 11, 2009
At Google we recognize that privacy is important. This Privacy Policy
applies to all of the products, services and websites offered by Google
Inc. or its subsidiaries or affiliated companies except DoubleClick (DoubleClick
Privacy Policy) and Postini (Postini Privacy Policy); collectively, Google’s
“services.” In addition, where more detailed information is
needed to explain our privacy practices, we post supplementary privacy
notices to describe how particular services process personal information.
These notices can be found in the Google Privacy Center.
Google adheres to the US Safe Harbor Privacy Principles of Notice, Choice,
Onward Transfer, Security, Data Integrity, Access and Enforcement, and
is registered with the U.S. Department of Commerce’s Safe Harbor
Program.
If you have any questions about this Privacy Policy, please feel free
to contact us through our website or write to us at
Privacy Matters
c/o Google Inc.
1600 Amphitheatre Parkway
Mountain View, California, 94043
USA
Information we collect and how we use it
We offer a number of services that do not require you to register for
an account or provide any personal information to us, such as Google Search.
In order to provide our full range of services, we may collect the following
types of information:
Information you provide – When you sign up for a Google Account
or other Google service or promotion that requires registration, we ask
you for personal information (such as your name, email address and an
account password). For certain services, such as our advertising programs,
we also request credit card or other payment account information which
we maintain in encrypted form on secure servers. We may combine the information
you submit under your account with information from other Google services
or third parties in order to provide you with a better experience and
to improve the quality of our services. For certain services, we may give
you the opportunity to opt out of combining such information.
Cookies – When you visit Google, we send one or more cookies –
a small file containing a string of characters – to your computer
or other device that uniquely identifies your browser. We use cookies
to improve the quality of our service, including for storing user preferences,
improving search results and ad selection, and tracking user trends, such
as how people search. Google also uses cookies in its advertising services
to help advertisers and publishers serve and manage ads across the web.
We may set one or more cookies in your browser when you visit a website,
including Google sites that use our advertising cookies, and view or click
on an ad supported by Google’s advertising services.
Log information – When you access Google services, our servers automatically
record information that your browser sends whenever you visit a website.
These server logs may include information such as your web request, Internet
Protocol address, browser type, browser language, the date and time of
your request and one or more cookies that may uniquely identify your browser.
User communications – When you send email or other communications
to Google, we may retain those communications in order to process your
inquiries, respond to your requests and improve our services.
Affiliated Google Services on other sites – We offer some of our
services on or through other web sites. Personal information that you
provide to those sites may be sent to Google in order to deliver the service.
We process such information under this Privacy Policy. The affiliated
sites through which our services are offered may have different privacy
practices and we encourage you to read their privacy policies.
Gadgets – Google may make available third party applications through
its services. The information collected by Google when you enable a gadget
or other application is processed under this Privacy Policy. Information
collected by the application or gadget provider is governed by their privacy
policies.
Location data – Google offers location-enabled services, such as
Google Maps for mobile. If you use those services, Google may receive
information about your actual location (such as GPS signals sent by a
mobile device) or information that can be used to approximate a location
(such as a cell ID).
Links – Google may present links in a format that enables us to
keep track of whether these links have been followed. We use this information
to improve the quality of our search technology, customized content and
advertising. Read more information about links and redirected URLs.
Other sites – This Privacy Policy applies to Google services only.
We do not exercise control over the sites displayed as search results,
sites that include Google applications, products or services, or links
from within our various services. These other sites may place their own
cookies or other files on your computer, collect data or solicit personal
information from you.
Google only processes personal information for the purposes described
in this Privacy Policy and/or the supplementary privacy notices for specific
services. In addition to the above, such purposes include:
Providing our services, including the display of customized content and
advertising;
Auditing, research and analysis in order to maintain, protect and improve
our services;
Ensuring the technical functioning of our network;
Protecting the rights or property of Google or our users; and
Developing new services.
You can find more information about how we process personal information
by referring to the supplementary privacy notices for particular services.
Google processes personal information on our servers in the United States
of America and in other countries. In some cases, we process personal
information on a server outside your own country. We may process personal
information to provide our own services. In some cases, we may process
personal information on behalf of and according to the instructions of
a third party, such as our advertising partners.
Choices for personal information
When you sign up for a particular service that requires registration,
we ask you to provide personal information. If we use this information
in a manner different than the purpose for which it was collected, then
we will ask for your consent prior to such use.
If we propose to use personal information for any purposes other than
those described in this Privacy Policy and/or in the specific service
privacy notices, we will offer you an effective way to opt out of the
use of personal information for those other purposes. We will not collect
or use sensitive information for purposes other than those described in
this Privacy Policy and/or in the supplementary service privacy notices,
unless we have obtained your prior consent.
Most browsers are initially set up to accept cookies, but you can reset
your browser to refuse all cookies or to indicate when a cookie is being
sent. However, some Google features and services may not function properly
if your cookies are disabled.
Google uses the DoubleClick advertising cookie on AdSense partner sites
and certain Google services to help advertisers and publishers serve and
manage ads across the web. You can view, edit, and manage your ads preferences
associated with this cookie by accessing the Ads Preferences Manager.
In addition, you may choose to opt out of the DoubleClick cookie at any
time by using DoubleClick’s opt-out cookie.
You can decline to submit personal information to any of our services,
in which case Google may not be able to provide those services to you.
Information sharing
Google only shares personal information with other companies or individuals
outside of Google in the following limited circumstances:
We have your consent. We require opt-in consent for the sharing of any
sensitive personal information.
We provide such information to our subsidiaries, affiliated companies
or other trusted businesses or persons for the purpose of processing personal
information on our behalf. We require that these parties agree to process
such information based on our instructions and in compliance with this
Privacy Policy and any other appropriate confidentiality and security
measures.
We have a good faith belief that access, use, preservation or disclosure
of such information is reasonably necessary to (a) satisfy any applicable
law, regulation, legal process or enforceable governmental request, (b)
enforce applicable Terms of Service, including investigation of potential
violations thereof, (c) detect, prevent, or otherwise address fraud, security
or technical issues, or (d) protect against harm to the rights, property
or safety of Google, its users or the public as required or permitted
by law.
If Google becomes involved in a merger, acquisition, or any form of sale
of some or all of its assets, we will ensure the confidentiality of any
personal information involved in such transactions and provide notice
before personal information is transferred and becomes subject to a different
privacy policy.
We may share with third parties certain pieces of aggregated, non-personal
information, such as the number of users who searched for a particular
term, for example, or how many users clicked on a particular advertisement.
Such information does not identify you individually.
Please contact us at the address below for any additional questions about
the management or use of personal data.
Information security
We take appropriate security measures to protect against unauthorized
access to or unauthorized alteration, disclosure or destruction of data.
These include internal reviews of our data collection, storage and processing
practices and security measures, as well as physical security measures
to guard against unauthorized access to systems where we store personal
data.
We restrict access to personal information to Google employees, contractors
and agents who need to know that information in order to operate, develop
or improve our services. These individuals are bound by confidentiality
obligations and may be subject to discipline, including termination and
criminal prosecution, if they fail to meet these obligations.
Data integrity
Google processes personal information only for the purposes for which
it was collected and in accordance with this Privacy Policy or any applicable
service-specific privacy notice. We review our data collection, storage
and processing practices to ensure that we only collect, store and process
the personal information needed to provide or improve our services or
as otherwise permitted under this Policy. We take reasonable steps to
ensure that the personal information we process is accurate, complete,
and current, but we depend on our users to update or correct their personal
information whenever necessary.
Accessing and updating personal information
When you use Google services, we make good faith efforts to provide you
with access to your personal information and either to correct this data
if it is inaccurate or to delete such data at your request if it is not
otherwise required to be retained by law or for legitimate business purposes.
We ask individual users to identify themselves and the information requested
to be accessed, corrected or removed before processing such requests,
and we may decline to process requests that are unreasonably repetitive
or systematic, require disproportionate technical effort, jeopardize the
privacy of others, or would be extremely impractical (for instance, requests
concerning information residing on backup tapes), or for which access
is not otherwise required. In any case where we provide information access
and correction, we perform this service free of charge, except if doing
so would require a disproportionate effort. Some of our services have
different procedures to access, correct or delete users’ personal
information. We provide the details for these procedures in the specific
privacy notices or FAQs for these services.
Enforcement
Google regularly reviews its compliance with this Privacy Policy. Please
feel free to direct any questions or concerns regarding this Privacy Policy
or Google’s treatment of personal information by contacting us through
this web site or by writing to us at
Privacy Matters
c/o Google Inc.
1600 Amphitheatre Parkway
Mountain View, California, 94043
USA
When we receive formal written complaints at this address, it is Google’s
policy to contact the complaining user regarding his or her concerns.
We will cooperate with the appropriate regulatory authorities, including
local data protection authorities, to resolve any complaints regarding
the transfer of personal data that cannot be resolved between Google and
an individual.
Changes to this Privacy Policy
Please note that this Privacy Policy may change from time to time. We
will not reduce your rights under this Privacy Policy without your explicit
consent, and we expect most such changes will be minor. Regardless, we
will post any Privacy Policy changes on this page and, if the changes
are significant, we will provide a more prominent notice (including, for
certain services, email notification of Privacy Policy changes). Each
version of this Privacy Policy will be identified at the top of the page
by its effective date, and we will also keep prior versions of this Privacy
Policy in an archive for your review.
If you have any additional questions or concerns about this Privacy Policy,
please feel free to contact us any time through this web site or at
Privacy Matters
c/o Google Inc.
1600 Amphitheatre Parkway
Mountain View, California, 94043
USA |