Google and Your Privacy

When I first realized that I would be writing a blog for SocialYell on Google, I just typed in “Google Data Privacy” as keywords for the search engine to see what came up.  Okay, class, what did I do wrong?  Well, I started out by signing into my Gmail account to find out Google was scheduled this week, then retrieved some notes from Google Documents and ended by typing in my keywords about Google into Google.  That, right there, was the problem.  In trying to research this topic, I was actually depending almost entirely on the search engine-turned-Goliath, and it was in turn controlling my results.  So, what were my findings?  A sort of “Wizard of Oz” revelation of what’s behind the curtain and just how much of your information they have access to.

So, what can Google see?  Everything!  Well, pretty darn close to it.  We have to hand it to them; Google has made us a dependent society because they offer so many helpful services.  They offer an awesome search engine, a free email and chat service, a Calendar, Google Docs, Google Reader, Google Maps, Google Voice for phones and now even its own operating system due out soon, Chrome OS.  While we may rely on these devices, have you ever considered how much private information we give them through these simple acts?  And although many of these are available for free, at what price do we give up our rights to our own personal info?

Sitting down to check your email, Google can read your subject line, content and even who you’re sending it to.  Say you email the Savannah, GA Visitor’s Bureau for travel plans.  Next time you log in, there may be an advertisement at the top of the page about how to visit Savannah for a cheap price.  What if they scan your chat topics and find out that you are looking to buy a kitchen appliance?  Google could advertise before you start your next chat.  They can also track your reading habits through Reader, your appointments through Calendar and even your location through Google Maps My Location application!  What if they listen in on your conversations through Google Voice?  Besides just annoying advertising before you start your call, what else could they do with that sensitive information?

To give them the benefit of the doubt, just because they can access our data does not mean that they will.  But how tempting!  All of that data just laying on top of their server and in their applications.  Google, through all of their technical arms, can know basically anything about you, especially if consumers start investing in Chrome OS.  Then, Google can practically own you.  Questions have been raised by privacy advocates whether or not Google is getting to big for their britches.  Should they be regulated as a utility by the Federal Government?  We definitely have a backing for our concerns because Google has been called out before due to their lax measures when dealing with data privacy.  Looking up their privacy measures is easier now, mainly because of requests made by users to make these links more accessible.

“Google says it keeps only 18 months of search data, and that data is completely anonymous,” according to a recent article in “PC World.”

Only 18 months?  A year and a half is a long time and a lot of information to keep, even if it is anonymous.  But Google is often adverse to keeping things cloaked with anonymity because it supposedly inhibits their ability to innovate.  Well, what about us?  Google’s ability to track my location and supply others with my cyber-habits is just down-right unnerving.  Does anyone else envision that creepy little Decepticon from “Transformers” when its hacking into the United States database?  Or even HAL 9000 from “2001: A Space Odyssey”?

As far as I’m concerned, to take a page from Shakespeare, Google “may smile, and smile, and be a villain.”  Once a helpful search engine started up by college geeks, Google is now mere steps away from the frightening ability to not only track us, but control us as well.

Concerned?  You should be!  Yell about it today at SocialYell!  To learn more about Google, read PC World’s latest article.

Ashley Strickland is a senior majoring in journalism at the University of Georgia.  She wonders if this blog will show up on the Google search engine.