Earlier this year, it became known that Google Wallet was supplying customers’ personal information to developers following product purchases through Google Play. In a backend update to the Google Wallet merchant site, this data has now disappeared.
Initial speculation, seemingly confirmed by Google employees, was that the detailed information was required to meet the requirements of taxation laws in different countries around the world, but that’s not entirely true. Google seems to be working down the path that was suggested in our post, providing only the data required for tax calculation (data that was already available through a non-personally identifiable report).
The overhaul of the Wallet site doesn’t just stop there – Google have also cleaned up the interface for and given developers and merchants easier access to their data through a more natural, tabbed interface which is certainly a welcome change over the older interface. The new look is in line with Google’s modern UI design.
We asked Dan Nolan, the developer who brought the issue to light earlier this year, what he thought of the recent changes:
That is absolutely fantastic news for developers and people who buy software on Google Play. Kudos to Google for fixing the issue.
It really is great to see Google addressing concerns over personal data protection and looking after the consumers. The Play store fiasco was without a doubt one of the biggest faux pas Google has committed with users data in recent memory. We’d also echo Dan’s statement – kudos to them for resolving the concern.
Are you concerned by developers having access to personally identifiable information? Let us know in the comments below.
Noogle.