Google responds to privacy questions

Google told U.S. politicians its privacy policy on the data it collects from hundreds of millions of people around the globe is designed to help users. Members of Congress had raised concerns Google is jeopardizing users' data to boost its online advertising business as it moves into new areas such as social networking and mobile devices, the Los Angeles Times reported Tuesday. In a letter to Congress, Google said its new privacy policy is intended to help users and is similar to those used by other Internet companies. It was already sharing information about its users across its multiple services, the company said, and the changes to its privacy policy was intended to make them easier to understand. "Regulators globally have been calling for shorter, simpler privacy policies -- and having one policy covering many different products is now fairly standard across the Web," Google said on its official blog. Google said the new privacy policy, set to take effect March 1, would benefit users by helping them find information they are looking for more quickly. For example, Google's letter said, currently when a user signs into Google and searches for recipes, it can't recommend cooking videos on YouTube, but that will change under the new policy. Google said it would be able to show users more finely targeted online ads.