By Eric Geller

Kenyon students who have a Gmail address in addition to their Kenyon email should take note: Google’s privacy policy has changed, and it affects important aspects of Gmail’s user experience. Kenyon Gmails, however, will remain unaffected.

Because Kenyon uses Google Apps, a special Google product tailored to businesses and schools, username@kenyon.edu emails will not be affected by this policy. The data Google gathers about students who use Google services while logged into Kenyon accounts will remain separate.

Google Apps for Education users, like Kenyon, are covered under separate contractual agreements,” said Ronald Griggs, Kenyon’s vice president for Library and Information Services, in an email to students and employees.

Those who are regular Gmail users will see their privacy policy change slightly. Google’s computers have gotten better at translating personal information into relevant ads, and the new policy changes how that information mixes with other information.

When users create spreadsheets in Google Docs, manage emails in Gmail and search for stories in Google News, Google’s servers collect data. The company does this because users’ behavior within its products tells it what kinds of people are using its services. Google uses this information to generate ads that users are likely to appreciate and on which they might act.

Up until the change, Google had “more than 70 … privacy documents covering all of our different products,” according to a post on the company’s official blog. The new unified privacy policy eliminates redundant rules about how Google uses overlapping data.

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