Google has long had ability to track you across its services

Google's controversial new privacy policy covers familiar territory for Peter Eckersley, the Electronic Frontier Foundation's respected Technology Projects Director. He says the search giant's disclosure that it will track what you do across all Google-owned services that you partake of -- on your PC and mobile devices -- comes across more like a confession than a bold new move. "It has always been the case that Google kept effectively linkable records of our uses of Gmail, Search, Maps and Market for Android, and other services," says Eckersley. "Only very sophisticated users have ever been able to remove any of that linkability, and that remains the case today. In a couple of cases, Google had some internal practices of not linking your browsing history, and YouTube history, to other data -- and those internal walls at the company are now gone."