ADVERTISEMENT

Google agreed to implement a comprehensive privacy program in March as part of a settlement with the Federal Trade Commission related to the rollout of Google Buzz. The FTC said GMail users were enrolled in aspects of Buzz against their will and were unable to make sense of confusing privacy controls.

As part of the settlement Google must hire an outside auditor to conduct an independent review of its privacy policies every two years and obtain users' consent before changing how it shares user information with third parties.



Alma Whitten remains director of privacy for product and engineering and will continue to lead the search giant's companywide privacy efforts.

