According to our lesson this week, Google
owns...
·
The top-ranked search portal
·
A wildly popular e-mail service
·
A widely-used customizable home page
·
A leading feed reader
·
The top-ranked feed management
system
·
The top-ranked analytics product
·
The largest distributed ad network
·
The most widely-distributed traffic
monitoring toolbar
·
The largest video content hosting
site (Reed College of Media, 2014).
How do you feel
about the fact that Google collects data from millions of its accounts every
day? Should a user have any concerns about this or is it just the price we have
to pay to reap the benefits of Google's many (mostly free) services? Research
Google in the news with regards to topics related to ethics, privacy and
security and share your findings along with your perspectives.
Have you ever sat back and wondered exactly how much data Google collects every day?
How does this affect you? In
2012, Google replaced more than 60 privacy guidelines that governed its
products and services with one single policy; it also consolidated the personal
data it collects. “The company creates as much data in two days — roughly 5
exabytes — as the world produced from the dawn of humanity until 2003...
[according to] Eric Schmidt, the company’s chairman” (Harbour, 2012). Google
uses a massive amount of information that it collects from its search engine to
assist companies in placing advertising on the web and providing free search
engine services to the public. However, the benefits of Google have come with a
wide range of privacy issues that are still in effect today. Here’s a few
concerns about Google and privacy:
Google using unsecured Wi-Fi networks,
Wiretapping, and a string of lawsuits
Google began using
Street View cars to assist Google Maps in providing accurate pictures and
information for Google users. Google Street View is featured in Google
Maps and Google Earth that provides panoramic views from positions along many
city and rural streets around the world. It was first launched in 2007 in
several cities in the United States, and has since expanded. Most of the
captured photography is done by Google Street View cars. The issue with this
feature is Google obtained information from unsecured WIFI networks that included
information such as personal emails, passwords, URLs, personal data, and more.
In 2013, the company dealt with a lawsuit filed by 38 states that suggested
Google violated people’s privacy during the capturing of street views. In agreeing to settle a case brought by
38 states involving the project, the search company for the first time is
required to aggressively police its own employees on privacy issues and to
explicitly tell the public how to fend off privacy violations like this one. David
Streitfeld of the New York Times wrote in 2013:
While
the settlement also included a tiny — for Google — fine of $7 million, privacy advocates and Google critics
characterized the overall agreement as
a breakthrough for a company they say has become a serial violator of privacy. Complaints have led to multiple
enforcement actions in recent years and
a spate of worldwide investigations into the way the mapping project also collected the personal data of
private computer users.
The settlement paved the way for a
string of privacy battles that the company would have within the next year; one
being over Google Glass, the heavily promoted computer that is considered wearable
in the form of glasses. “If you use Google Glass to record a couple whispering
to each other in Starbucks, have you violated their privacy?...Well, 38 states
just said they have a problem with the unauthorized collection of people’s data”
(Streitfeld, 2013).
Since Google’s lawsuit, the company’s data collection methods continue to raise privacy concerns. The company collects user data through its search engine, social network, Google+, Gmail, and Android software for mobile devices. Google was recently under fire for violation of a wiretap law, claiming to have a loophole in its privacy policies that allowed the company to read and share email contents without legal consequence. Google has also recently caught a string of class-action lawsuits claiming the company stores and reads emails from more than 400 million Gmail users.
“Google said its Wi-Fi tapping is legal
because it doesn’t collect “auditory broadcasts,” or radio transmissions, and
only uses publicly accessible connections. Because they’re not
password-protected, Google said “the information transmitted across the network
may be acquired by the public...the appeals court said that’s only partly true,
in its decision. Getting private data like emails and documents over an open
Wi-Fi connection has some degree of difficulty and “requires sophisticated
hardware and software” (Williams, 2014).
Ethically speaking, it is difficult to
determine if users should be concerned about privacy violations or if users
should accept that the powerful company collects data while providing free
services. For instance, the public could argue that the data collected from the
Street View cars violated privacy and was unethically correct. Though this is
true, Google can argue that the company ceased the collection of data once the
issue was brought to its attention and that Google wasn't intentionally
collecting unsecured data, but it was a mishap due to the method the program
was written. The company can also argue that it has not used any of the data
and the information collected was deleted.
Users
can also argue that Google is now much more than a simple search engine; it's
also Gmail, Google Docs, Google Maps, Google Earth, and even has influence in
services such as YouTube and Blogger. The many Google products are able to store
data on all users. For instance, users on YouTube receive a list of
personalized recommendations after watching several videos. Google has to track
what users are watching to craft video suggestions. The company also has access
to documents created under Google Docs and Gmail, making it easy to create an
entire portfolio of data on one single user. IP addresses are also collected.
Google could counteract this unethical violation by explaining that targeted
services on sites such as YouTube are convenient for users and are valued. Also,
there is no hard evidence that Google collects and stores information against
each user. Users also have the choice whether or not to sign in to YouTube so
Google is not always able to track or provide targeted services.
All
in all, there is no true answer as to whether or not Google steps out of bounds
and into privacy violations based on the amount of sharing users are agreeing
to in the Terms and Conditions of each product. We, as users, should understand
the amount of sharing we are enabling companies and applications to collect and
if we feel it is unethical or goes overboard, it is our right and position to
cancel all services we are uncomfortable with. What are your thoughts on Google
and the recent privacy concerns that follow the company?
References
Harbour, P. (2012,
December 18). The emperor of all identities. Retrieved from http://www.nytimes.com/2012/12/19/opinion/why-google-has-too-much-power-over-your-private-life.html
Reed College of Media.
(2014). Lesson 6. Retrieved from https://ecampus.wvu.edu
Streitfeld, D. (2013,
March 12). Google concedes that drive-by prying violated privacy. Retrieved
from http://www.nytimes.com/2013/03/13/technology/google-pays-fine-over-street-view-privacy-breach.html?pagewanted=all
Williams, L. (2014,
April 3). Google wants the supreme court to legalize collecting private data.
Retrieved from http://thinkprogress.org/justice/2014/04/03/3422086/google-wiretapping/
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