In a rebuttal to another Forbes article, “Google And Facebook’s Privacy Illusion”, Alma Whitten, (Google’s Privacy Engineering Lead) states that Google is constantly working on giving user’s control over the data they share with Google.

But we can’t and shouldn’t do it alone. Ensuring real control in our ever-changing world is one of the most important challenges our society faces. But it is not a challenge that just one company, or just one government can solve. It is a challenge that will take all of us–companies, advocates, academics, policy makers and users–working together. Together, we must find new and better ways to guarantee privacy today and for the future.

Privacy is alive and well. At Google, we’re working to keep it that way.

I happen to like, (and use), the Google Dashboard; as it does exactly what Alma states and gives you premise of control over the data you share with Google. Although, its been proven that results vary between different states of logged in and not logged in with them; (but that’s an entirely different conversation).

The reality of privacy on the Internet, (as I see it anyway), is that you’re as private as you’re comfortable in believing; until that assumption is shattered by someone else’s reality.

However, I am an advocate of the Dashboard, (and any other service like it). Because, you can’t really be upset about not disabling something where you have the option to and have it bite you in the proverbial buttocks, later.

Just like we teach our children to look both ways before crossing the street; we have to tell them (and ourselves) to look at all the links made available to us on all the web sites that we choose to share information with.

Be careful out there.

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