The main change is that the new policy is designed to be easier to read and understand. The new policy also states there would be total sharing between all Google products used by a given account holder, including Gmail, Google Plus, Google’s search engine, and YouTube.

Western senior Doug Gustafson said he is not a fan of the policy. He said if Google can find a way to make a profit, it will.

“Your info is in their hands, which I disagree with,” Gustafson said.

According to Google’s policy, it does not sell information to third parties.  It does sell ad space. Google displays ads to customers based on browsing history and interaction.

Western librarian Paul Piper said he imagines advertisers are some of the main parties that benefit from Google’s policy.

“That’s how they match the ads to what you’re doing,” Piper said.

Libraries don’t release circulation records, and Piper said some libraries have gone to court to protect this right.

Piper has mixed feelings about Google’s privacy policy. However, as long as Google is willing to take the same stance as libraries, he believes it will, he sees no cause for serious concern.

“It is quite scary in some ways to have that much personal information accumulated in one database,” Piper said. “The worry would be if their hand was forced, they would release damaging information.”

Facebook has access to even more personal information than Google does, but users willingly provide it, Piper said.  Google has search habits, a more private form of information, he said.

Google Dashboard allows users to view what Google knows about them, which may include information about age, gender, interests and location.

Gustafson said he has accepted everyone’s lack of privacy, so he stopped worrying about it.

“Instead, I try to go the opposite route and live as if someone is watching, but still according to how I think,” Gustafson said.

Western student Parviz Kazemzadeh, 75, said his privacy is something he values. He said he thinks Google’s policy is bad, regardless of the changes.

“This country is becoming ridiculous,” Kazemzadeh said.

Kazemzadeh said civil disobedience is the answer to many problems, and privacy violations are one of them.

Refusing to use the Internet or comply with the changes are the best hopes at gaining some privacy back, he said.

“If young people don’t rebel, nothing will happen,” he said.

Despite Piper’s mixed feelings on Google’s privacy policy, he said Western’s libraries use Google for many functions, including a calendar, email, e-books and documents.