How Google’s new central privacy page works

Google laid out a redesign of users' account settings pages, with a focus on giving them a centralized place to control data that the firm picks up from your Gmail, Google Maps, YouTube and normal Google use. From the new dashboard, users can see a number of the types of data Google collects -- location, ad preferences, search history, YouTube watch history, and more -- and choose to opt out (or in) to data collection. But having a central location for the basic privacy and data information is nicer than having to futz around with each service individually.

Google's move to simplify follows a trend we've seen around from other tech firms who aim to make their legal language and settings bit more readable for the common person. Facebook, for example, has redesigned the look of its data use and community standards pages a couple of times, to make it a little easier for people to understand. A short while later, Facebook-owned Instagram gave its community standards a similar makeover -- though the settings page itself looks pretty much the same as it ever did. In this case, it's in Google's interest to let its users know what information they're collecting; doing so helps them stay on the good side of that famous "creepy line."