Google is preparing for changesin its privacy policy beginning March first.The company says it plansto replace more than sixty separate policiesfor different products with one main policy.Privacy activists criticized last month's announcement.They are concerned that the new policywill make it easier to track the activities of usersacross Google's many products -- from Gmail to YouTube.Marc Rotenberg heads the Electronic PrivacyInformation Center in Washington.He says Google's aim is to create a single unified profile of its users.MARC ROTENBERG: "We believe that not onlyis that a threat to privacy,we actually believe it is illegal,because last year Google entered into an agreementwith the U.S. Federal Trade Commissionin which they said they would not engagein that kind of data sharingwithout the explicit permission of their users."Google says its new policy will make it simpler for usersto share information across serviceslike Google Search, Gmail and Google Calendar.And it says the new policywill help personalize each user's experience.Over time, it says, users can expectto see better search results,fewer unwanted advertisementsand more content targeted to their interests.But Marc Rotenberg says in return,people who choose to use Google will lose controlover the information they share.MARC ROTENBERG: "The type of informationyou might provide for an e-mail service,for example, such as your address book,which contains private information,is different from the type of informationthat you might provide for a social network servicewhere people purposely make information publiclyavailable to their friends."Mr. Rotenberg says these two kinds of servicesshould be kept separate.MARC ROTENBERG: "By trying to combine these two services,in our view, Google is actually undermininga very well established expectation of privacy,particularly for popular Internet services like electronic mail."Critics also see a bigger problem with Google's new policy.The plan would not give users a choiceto "opt-out" of the data sharing.MARC ROTENBERG: "In our view,if people want to make their personal information available,they certainly should have the right to do that.What we're objecting to is the effort by the companyto take away from the users that choicethat they should have. That just seems unfair."Google says it will not be collectingany more data than it does now.And it says users will still be ableto control many privacy settings.For example, they can disable their search historyand set Gmail chat to "off the record."European Union officials have asked the companyto delay the new policy to make sureit would not violate any E.U. data protection laws.Marc Rotenberg thinks the Federal Trade Commissionin Washington might also try to block the new policy.And that's the VOA Special English Technology Report,written by June Simms.