What Questions Do We Want in the Google Privacy Disclosure Quiz?

USING GOOGLE SEARCH, EMAIL, AND OTHER APPS WHEN LOGGED INTO A FREE GOOGLE ACCOUNT. If I were to design a Google Privacy Disclosure Quiz, to better educate consumers about what the risks are, here are the questions I would include about what information about ourselves we trade when we use Google’s free advertising-supported applications:

1. When I have a free consumer account at Google, what user profile information does Google collect and retain about me?

    a. First Name, Last Name, Email address
    b. Gender, Age
    c. Phone Number
    d. Credit Card number and billing address (if I use Google Checkout)
    e. Who my contacts are
    f. Who I have included in my Google+ Circles
    g. All of the above
    h. Some of the above (only a thru d)

2. What additional demographic information does Google get from 3rd parties and connect to my profile?

    a. Household income
    b. Ethnicity
    c. Credit Score
    d. All of the above and more

3. What behavior information does Google track when I’m logged into any Google account using a consumer (free) account with cookies enabled?

    a. What Internet Service Provider or mobile network provider I’m using

    b. Where I am located (if I have location services on)

    c. What device I am using to access the Internet

    d. What browser I am using

    e. What applications and services I’m using

    f. Phone numbers I call using Google services

    g. Who I am (e.g., what my account profile is)

    h. 100% of the search words I use, 100% of the items I click on, 100% of items downloaded or viewed (unless I turn Web History off or pause it).

    i. My Contacts’ contact information

    j. All of the Above

    k. All of the Above except my contacts’ contact information

4. When Google shares this information with advertisers in its network, this information is:

    a. Anonymous (not connected to my profile information)

    b. Analyzed and aggregated along with other users’ information so that I am essentially anonymous

    c. Both

    d. Neither

5. If I opt out of customized Google Display Network Ads, Google will:

    a. Disable the ad tracking cookie for my account

    b. Will no longer provide ads that are targeted to my demographic and interests

    c. Will no longer collect and associate my interests nor my demographics with my browser ID (even if I am logged into a free Google account)

    d. All of the above

    e. None of the above

USING GOOGLE SEARCH, EMAIL, AND OTHER APPS WHEN LOGGED INTO A PAID GOOGLE APPS ACCOUNT. When I am using my business, education or government paid Google Apps account, Google will still know and track the following information about me:

1. When I have a paid business, education or government Google Apps account at Google, what user profile information does Google collect and retain about me?

    a. My first and last name
    b. My email address
    c. My phone number

2. What behavior information does Google track when I’m logged into my Google account using a paid Google Apps business account with cookies enabled?

    a. What Internet Service Provider or mobile network provider I’m using
    b. Where I am located (if I have location services on)
    c. What device I am using to access the Internet
    d. What browser I am using
    e. What applications and services I’m using
    f. Phone numbers I call using Google services
    g. Who I am (e.g., what my account profile is)
    h. My Google+ public posts
    i. My Google+ circles and who is in those circles
    j. Any photos on which I’m publicly tagged
    k. What I have indicated I like by using +1

3. Assuming my business account has advertising turned off, am I correct in assuming that Google does NOT:

   a. Collect and log my search history

   b. Track what I click on and what I download (except on any website I visit that has Google analytics enabled, but that tracking is not linked to my Google apps account)

   c. Scan and analyze my email and keep those logs, except to make it easier for me to search and find things within my own email account

   d. Track and analyze my contacts’ information or my interactions with any of my contacts

4. Since Google’s Services are hosted in the cloud on distributed servers throughout the world, I realize that:

   a. Google will not tell me in which country(ies) my organization’s and users’ data resides

   b. Google will not tell me in which country(ies) my organizations’ and my users’ data is being processed

We’ve probably missed some questions to which you’d like to know the answers, and, frankly, we don’t know what the right answers are to all of the questions in this sample Google Privacy quiz. However, I agree with Esther Dyson that presenting this type of information in the form of a multiple choice quiz helps us pay much more attention to the tradeoffs we’re making than we do when we try to read and digest a typical privacy policy statement.

Here's my article on this:

How Does Google’s Privacy Policy Affect You?
It’s Time to Pay Attention to How Google Is Tracking Your Online Behavior
By Patricia B. Seybold, CEO and Senior Consultant, Patricia Seybold Group, January 12, 2012