After it had to be cancelled in 2020 due to the pandemic, Google was finally able to host its precious event, though on an unusually small scale: CEO Sundar Pichai and colleagues presented various innovations at Google I/O 2021 and gave insight into their future strategy. While the company is seeing progress in areas like machine learning and artificial intelligence, Sundar Pichai is aware that Google's products can only be "as helpful as they are safe". So, what will Google's data protection of the future look like?
Jen Fitzpatrick, engineer and senior vice president of Google Maps, lays out Google's three principles of data protection for this. Again, but with little innovation:
1. "Secure By Default"Security is the default setting at Google. Already at the last I/O 2019, Sundar Pichai introduced the Auto-Delete. Since then, auto-delete has been the standard for all new Google accounts: Over 2 billion accounts are already configured to automatically delete its data every 18 months. However, it is also possible to customize this period personally. Additionally, Google products are protected with advanced AI-driven technologies. For example, Gmail automatically blocks 100 million phishing emails every day and Google Play Protect scans 100 billion apps worldwide for security vulnerabilities. The most widespread privacy problem, however, remains the poor use of passwords, according to Fitzpatrick. Too many people still use the same password for multiple accounts. The technology company wants to change that: With smartphone-based authentication, it is working toward a future in which we can do without passwords altogether. But in the meantime, the company's Password Manager is shaping up to be a suitable solution. To make this tool more helpful and user-friendly, four new upgrades are in the pipeline:
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Thus, Google is continuously developing new features for their data protection. These are certainly the right steps on the way to increasingly secure and responsible data handling.
However, this is contrasted by the unattractive practice that, for some time now, a privacy policy has been prominently displayed when googling and the user is requested to read and agree to it. If you refuse, the services cannot be accessed at all. A large proportion of users therefore agree to these policies out of convenience. To deduce from this that 3 billion people regulate their data privacy settings independently is already a very positive interpretation. In addition, it is still true today that all of Google's privacy notices are not only very extensive, but also often only vaguely formulated. If you really want to know in detail what data Google is using and how, we recommend the article "It's 2021. What does Google REALLY know about you?" from the very critical site vpnmentor.com
Google and data protection remains an important topic - but it is definitely more important that everyone questions themselves critically and does not quickly agree to something out of convenience, thus allowing their data to be used. Simply by click.