Well, very recently I was helping a friend of mine, sign up for an email account. For we had our recruitments coming up and we needed to give a valid ID in our resumés. Which email service would anyone prefer to use? Google! Of course. One service everybody could instantly think of. Often, it would be the usual ‘next-next-next-finish’ thing with the signups. Not this time. As I was moving to the subsequent pages of the sign up process, I was asked to agree to their privacy policy agreement. Remember the stir it caused very recently? Few months back perhaps?
Internet and news media tore Google alike for what it had done to its privacy settings. Not just that, there were several other occasions where Google has been accused of its doings. Now that there are several services that Google has to offer, it seems like just the right time, to look into how this is and can affect us in all aspects. We are a good bunch of amateur internet users. Do we really have to bother after all? I’m afraid we should.
What “Privacy” really means.
Many misunderstand the term Privacy. Look, we’re not talking about the stuff you browse and the thing you watch in Internet. Well, compromised privacy is not just the revealing of browser history. (I hope you understand what I mean). It is about showing the world who you are, in literal sense by all means. It about what you tell and what you give for anyone to see in Internet. Take for example the Facebook. We’re not new to Facebook. Almost everyone out there has got an account in it. We really like to tell people about ourselves – Our names, date of birth, interests, relations, contact etc. What we are talking right now, is how far we can go towards giving our private information online? About how far we can reveal ourselves, open up, for everyone to see.
So, what brings Google here?
This is a long story. Stay patient for a while. Privacy is what we are really concerned about and Google is really what we’re worried about. This story has got two sides of it. Like a movie with two separate tracks, both of which merge at a point.
Paid Ads
Back in 1999, the whole of the Internet was a literal chaos. It was the time, when online marketing, publishing and content generation boomed. Sites were popping up in thousands daily and there was no way to organize and index the content that was generated. There were portals that offered searches yes. But, none of them were that very efficient to get you the best result. Many of them would take up money from businesses to put their listing in the user searches. No search engine that existed during the time, was able to bring out the best service.
That was when two graduate students, Larry Page and Sergey Brin had created PageRanking algorithm as a part of their university project. It enabled a systemic search of the best sites by looking at the number of trackback links. It was awesome. Obviously! And they made a good fortune out of it. That was called The Google.
“Don’t be evil!” was what they said. It was kind of their unofficial motto, The Google’s. They saw the web an open platform for everyone to thrive and argued that you can make a living without hurting anyone. Atleast, that’s what they said. People loved the company. Open source enthusiasts and Microsoft haters, whatever we may call, wanted to join the Google bandwagon.
They made a public statement that searches were not meant to be influenced by money and business partnerships and that Google always wanted to put the users before, in delivering the best results via their pageranking algorithm, without any bias. In short, they said they wouldn’t agree to paid results in their search logs. Even when they went public in 2004, they retained their “Don’t be Evil” motto.
After a few years now, all of a sudden, they put up Paid ads out of nowhere. Why? To provide the best user content, it is necessary for us to partner with few others, Google says. It is worth noting that a part of the revenue that the corporate receives via ‘clicks’ go to Google. Take for example, the Google Hotel Search and Flight Search. The search page instantly returns the flight searches, that people can use to book or cancel tickets and know information about. Are all the listings that are put up there, for free or do they pay Google to get listed up?
Evidently, right now, Google is the best search engine, or has kind of become so, in people’s opinion. Wonder how many of them know if there existed another one like Yahoo! or Bing. It’s not hard to believe that people might want to pay for their ads to Google. Not to mention the paid and targeted ads TV commercial that is being aired in regular basis. (Remember the Tanjore Paintings ad during the IPL?)
So, does that mean that, whoever has money or the will to pay, shall get preference in searches? What happened to your so called “Don’t be evil” motto and “We’ll always try to be loyal to our users and put them before money”? After all that and now if you’ve guts so much as to air a commercial, asking people to pay to get listed, why call yourself the good company ?
This is exactly what we call Hypocrisy!
Atleast Bing and Yahoo! agree that they make paid ads and accept money, right from the beginning. From the start, Google has been portraying itself to be the people’s search engine and that is why they had put a lot of trust in it. Years after gaining a good grip over their hearts, Google has taken the step to put that to risk in the belief that they’ve gained control over the web.
No wonder people are starting to question the Google’s Motto now. Wait, this is just the beginning of the plot.
The big Privacy play!
Like I mentioned before, there was uproar among the netizens and media alike about the change in privacy policies of Google products earlier this year. What’s the big deal? Nobody really cares to read the privacy policies. Everybody just clicks the checkboxes.
What really happened was, Google had people to agree to their new policy change that, Google would be using information across the multiple products it maintains to provide a single relevant user data base information. Meaning, combing all the information about a user into one.
The moment I read, it was a mix of Wow! and Oh! For one thing, I was happy. Collection of all the information together would help Google to provide us a more intuitive experience, just as they argued. It meant a more simplified Google profile. Unification of platforms enabled easy navigation and information sync and the content that we interacted with was relevant.
Is it just that? Or is there a bigger goal towards all this?
Look, if you are a regular Google user, you would be sure using the Gmail. Now, combine with it, Google Plus – your personal information, contacts, Picasa – your pictures, Docs – your personal data and information, text chats, Calendar – your appointments, Latitude – your location tag, Voice – audio information, Android phone – what more ?!
Put together all this, you’re done! Your entire bio-data is there with the Google. Gmail is the biggest killer of all, with almost every secret detail you would never want to disclose. Earlier, this wasn’t so. Each of the products had a separate profile and user information. Now that they are all combined, you know what implications it can get us.
Google denies collecting personal information. But how can we trust a company that has already failed to keep up its promise?
Google Street View Cars
There was also this controversy that Google had illegally captured information about users by spying their wireless networks. The case was dismissed that it was an unfortunate accident. Does it make any sense in saying that a car sent after several checks and authorization would be spying accidentally?
Where is Google getting at?
Earlier Google was simply known as a search engine. If you would like to stay in the game, diversify. Sure, you need to do that. But, not to this extent!
They’re already neck dip into our online history. From Chrome’s omnibox history logging to clicks, Gmail, Google Plus, Latitude and plus the biggest capture of all, Android – which is capable of literally tracking back everything about us – Contacts, Texts, Locations, Services, Interests, Photos.
Now, they are bringing the Chromebook – which might even put an end to the online privacy. Also, they have now got the Fiber, entering TV and Internet Service domains. There are also speculations that Google might run for getting a spectrum to provide wireless services.
After getting online, they’re onto other things as well. Google glasses for instance, captures each moment of what we do.
Does all of this seem very appropriate? To submit yourself entirely to a company? Ease of products and experience is one single answer what they give.
They’ve been into making much many products to take over the likes of Twitter and Facebook via Jaiku, Buzz and Wave. All of it aimed at capturing users and uniting their information. Be it, killing their competition or providing user the best experience, ultimately, it is you and me who is affected after all.
Man, you are compromised!
Even now, I’m not telling Google is bad. They might be doing it for users’ welfare. But, that’s a big MAY BE. Situations and circumstances always point to the other conclusion. Let’s not blame just Google for that. Your information is active in Facebook too. As a matter of fact, a lot more information than Google. What they do and will do is a question that not one seems to answer properly. If your whole information and identity that is established online is accessible, there is not a thing that can’t be done. Privacy is one thing that people need to look into on a serious note. We cannot trust a company by just its privacy policies that say, “Your information is protected.”
For corporations this large, they must be much more concerned about people given that the data they operate and work with is, so very sensitive.
All we need is an alternative way for them to prove us that they are good and better at protecting our online privacy. But, will they?