 |
| Image Source: Wikipedia |
There’s no doubt
that we live in a very connected culture! With rise of social sharing sites
like Facebook, Twitter, LinkedIn, and Instagram, we can’t help but share our
lives with others. Social media has had
such a profound effect on our culture that earlier this year the Oxford
Dictionary added the word “selfie,” which goes to show how much we love sharing
with the world. What happens when we
want to search the world?
If we are with
friends and debating a topic, the next thing you hear is, “Just Google it!” In
less than a second you have your results and your answer, but what really happens
when you go to Google, type in your search query, and hit enter?
Under their privacy
policy, Google (n.d.) says they collect information to provide better services
to all of their users – from figuring out basic stuff like which language you
speak, to more complex things like which ads you’ll find most useful or the
people who matter most to you online. So
the question is, what exactly do they collect? According to Google (n.d.), they
collect information in two ways:
1. Information
you give them. As an example, if you sign up for a Google
account and give your name, address, and then this info could be public within
your Google profile.
2. Information
Google gets from your use of their services. Google may collect
information about the services that you use and how you use them, like when you
visit a website that uses their advertising services or you view and interact
with their ads and content (Google, n.d.).
This can include specific phone model, log information, location
information, unique application numbers, local storage, and cookies and
anonymous identifiers (Google, n.d.).
Everyone has
different privacy concerns, I probably tend to lean towards not being as
worried compared to the average American. Where I might be concerned comes from
the following statement about Google storing data on people. According to RT USA (2014), Google’s business
model is the spy. It makes more than 80
percent of its money by collecting information about people, pooling it
together, storing it, indexing it, building profiles of people to predict their
interests and behavior, and then selling those profiles principally to
advertisers, but also others. Who
exactly is the “others?” While none of the other items really worry me, it’s
that “other” category that has me questioning how much goes to “other.”
Google on the
other hand, claims their goal is to be clear about what information they are
collecting, so that you can make meaningful choices about how it used
(n.d.). Google list the five following
ways you can take control of your information:
·
Review and control certain types of information tied to your
Google Account by using Google Dashboard.
·
View and edit your preferences about the ads shown to
you on Google and across the web, such as which categories might interest you,
using Ads Settings. You can also opt out
of certain Google advertising services here.
·
Use Google’s editor to see and adjust how your Google Profile
appears to particular individuals.
·
Control who you share information with.
·
Take information out of many of Google’s services.
Sort of sounds
like Google isn’t so bad after all, right? Well earlier this year, Google took
a hit from Europe’s highest court. The
European Court of Justice has ruled that search engine operators are
responsible for the processing they carry out of personal data which appear on
web pages published by third parties – and that a form of contentious “right to
be forgotten” already exists (Bernal, 2014).
The ruling was a strong decision in favor of privacy and individual
rights, and against the business models of search engines. Google has become one of the main ways we
search for a story, so if you prevent Google from providing the link, you
prevent people from accessing and reading the story. Perhaps people in European countries are more
private than those in America? Not so! Even before the European ruling, a
potentially explosive lawsuit made its way through federal court. The lawsuit states that Google had
acknowledged scanning the contents of millions of email messages sent and
received by student users of the company’s Apps for Education tool suite for
schools (Herold, 2014). In the suite,
the Mountain View, Calif.-based company also faced accusations from plaintiffs
that it went further, crossing a “creepy line” by using information gleaned
from the scans to build “surreptitious” profiles of Apps for Education users
that could be used for such purposes as targeted advertising (Herold, 2014). As consumers grow more technologically savvy,
you can expect more and more of these type of lawsuits to pop-up, unless Google
does something sooner than later.
We know Google
already dominates search, email, digital advertising, and many other areas of
digital, but what is next? Remember earlier in my post, when I mentioned the
“other” category? Let me first start by saying I am all for digital, social,
and others forms of communications. I am
not one of those conspiracy-type people, but just what will Google do with
their acquisitions of robotics companies and artificial intelligence company,
Deep Focus? I don’t ask this to scare those who are already paranoid, but I do
think it’s important for Google to clearly define those purposes as these
projects move closer and closer to mainstream usage.
Aside from creepy
robots, self-driving cars, and flying drones, you need to decide what your
usage of Google is and will be. Chances
are high that Facebook knows way more about you, based off the pages you like
and things you share. The real question
is, who is the most transparent and who cares more about giving you simple
options to maintaining your own preference of privacy. Facebook might be winning this one at the
moment, with the latest change to their privacy options. Someone like me, I can live with Google and
Facebook knowing about me, what I like, and what I care about. If this means a better Internet experience,
then bring it on.
I would love to
know your thoughts on your usage of Google and does giving away some of your
privacy matter for the using their products? Where do you draw the line?
References
Bernal, P. (2014, May 13). Opinion: Google
privacy ruling could change how we all use the Internet. Retrieved from http://edition.cnn.com/2014/05/13/business/opinion-google-privacy-bernal/
Google. (n.d.). Privacy policy – privacy & terms. Retrieved
from http://www.google.com/policies/privacy/
Herold, B. (2014, March 17). Lawsuit alleges that Google has
crossed a 'creepy line' with student data. Retrieved from http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2014/03/17/google-data-mining-students_n_4980422.html
RT USA. (2014, October 30). Google data collection worries
Americans more than NSA. Retrieved from http://rt.com/usa/200687-google-nsa-data-collection/
No comments:
Post a Comment