Google Hum To Search
Google is taking new steps to help users ensure their personal privacy. At the same time, the company is moving forward on Project Nimbus.
Fears over the stealing of private information of all kinds, or the use of such information for sale to marketers, have been a major issue the world over for years now. Companies like Google, along with social media giants like Twitter and Facebook, take advantage of the information that users provide them with freely and willfully to make money by selling their users’ data to advertisers. The companies say that this is simply a tradeoff since they provide their users with free services, including e mail accounts.
But Google has another problem. Not everyone wants their personal information made available to anyone in the world who conducts a Google search. The E.U. has already implemented new regulations that allow private citizens to demand of companies like Google to remove their information from such searches. And fear of possible further regulations and penalties in countries the world over may have led Google to implement its new policy.
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“Privacy and online safety go hand in hand. And when you’re using the internet, it’s important to have control over how your sensitive, personally identifiable information can be found,” said Michelle Chang, Global Policy Lead for Search at Google.
Under this new policy expansion, explained Chang in a blog post, people can now request removals of additional types of information when they find it in Search results, including personal contact information like a phone number, email address, or physical address. The policy also allows for the removal of additional information that may pose a risk for identity theft, such as confidential log-in credentials, when it appears in Search results.
Meanwhile, Boaz Maoz, Israel Country Director at Google Cloud, spoke about Israel’s Nimbus project at an event sponsored by Calcalist. Project Nimbus is a large-scale multiyear flagship project jointly managed by the Government Procurement Administration, the Government Computer Authority at the Ministry of Cyber and Digital Matters, the Office of Legal Counsel at the Ministry of Finance, the National Cyber Security Authority, the Budget Department, the Ministry of Defense, and the IDF.
Project Nimbus is intended to provide thorough and comprehensive reference for the provision of cloud services for the Israeli government. The project will include a number of levels, which will offer a response to create a cloud services supply channel and to draw up government policy on the subject, migration to the cloud, and modernization of services, control, and optimization of activity in the cloud.
“Israel is a powerhouse for cloud consumption – obviously, this is driven by the Israeli startups,” explained Boaz Maoz. “They use cloud because of the amount of data they have and also for the global scale: it is easier for them to get closer to their customers using platforms like Google Cloud. I’m very proud as an Israeli that Israel is a powerhouse, bigger than many other countries in Europe, the Middle East, and Africa because of the startups, but also because more traditional banks, insurers, and retailers are now moving to the cloud because of Nimbus.”
