Google & Privacy

Found posted on CNet:

"If Google is forced to compromise its privacy principles and produce to the Government on such a flimsy request, its search query and URL data, Google will, without a doubt, suffer a loss of trust among users. Google’s success can be attributed in large part to the high volume of Web users attracted to Google.com every day. The privacy and anonymity of the service are major factors in the attraction of users–that is, users trust Google to do right by their personal information and to provide them with the best search results. If users believe that the text of their search queries into Google’s search engine may become public knowledge, it only logically follows that they will be less likely to use the service."

So, as much as we all would like to believe that Google is sticking up for what’s right by telling the government to stay out of our business, it’s pretty clear that Google knows that they need the trust of their users. And they need that trust now, perhaps more than ever, as they cache more and more of our private data on their servers. According to another article at CNet:

Google can produce a list of people (identified by Internet address or cookie) who searched for a given term. Second, given a collection of Internet addresses, Google can produce a list of the terms searched by the user of a given address. That effectively creates an electronic dossier of an individual.

Then there is the latest news from the EFF, warning users not to download the latest version of Google Desktop:

Google today announced a new "feature" of its Google Desktop software that greatly increases the risk to consumer privacy. If a consumer chooses to use it, the new "Search Across Computers" feature will store copies of the user’s Word documents, PDFs, spreadsheets and other text-based documents on Google’s own servers, to enable searching from any one of the user’s computers. EFF urges consumers not to use this feature, because it will make their personal data more vulnerable to subpoenas from the government and possibly private litigants, while providing a convenient one-stop-shop for hackers who’ve obtained a user’s Google password.Anyone who actually still thinks they’re anonymous on the internet is crazy.

Next up is Time Magazine’s new cover, posing the question: "Can We Trust Google With Our Secrets?"

Personally, I think we can trust Google themselves, but we can’t trust that they can effectively keep our data out of the hands of our own government. It may be 2006, but it’s beginning to feel a lot like 1984. Concerned? You should be! And hopefully in the next election, citizens will shrug off their ever-so-cool apathetic attitudes and vote.