The Russian comic Yakov Smirnoff famously said, “In Soviet
Russia, TV watches you.” Today, he might say, “on Internet, Google watches
you.”
sleeping. It knows when you’re awake. It knows if you’ve been bad or good, so
be good for goodness’ sake.
your privacy. Plenty of good people mistrust Google. An entire culture has grown up around being skeptical of Google’s
informal motto, “Don’t be evil.” To catch a glimpse of that culture, check out
the paranoia – and hilarious cartoons – at Google Watch.
privacy product, Google Dashboard.
In an effort to provide you with greater transparency and
control over their own data, we’ve built the Google Dashboard. Designed to be
simple and useful, the Dashboard summarizes data for each product that you use
(when signed in to your account) and provides you direct links to control your
personal settings.
Reader, Gmail, web history, YouTube and Blogger. Over time, Google will add
other products, such as Analytics, that are not yet included.
But a close look shows no new features, no new control for
the end user. Dashboard just puts all of Google’s existing privacy settings in
one place. A convenience, yes, but not a breakthrough.
If Google really wanted to give users control over their
privacy it would give consumers the ability to be anonymous from the company
and its advertisers in crucial areas such as search data and online behavior,”
said John M. Simpson, consumer advocate with Consumer Watchdog. “The Dashboard
gives the appearance of control without the actual ability to prevent Google
from tracking you and delivering you to its marketers.
“What the Dashboard does is list all the information linked
directly to your name, but what it doesn’t do is let you know and control the
data directly tied to your computer’s IP address, which is Google’s black box
and data mine,” said Simpson “Google isn’t truly protecting privacy until it
lets you control that information.”
Times:
… and though much of the concern about Google’s data storage
revolves around precisely how and what the company does to analyze and profit
from user information, the Dashboard offers little insight into those domains.
It does not specify which services keep user data, or for how
long. Neither does it alert users that, for instance, their Web search
histories and e-mails are constantly scanned for the purposes of selling
products to them and others.
While you’re waiting for a more open approach to privacy,
there are some easy things you can do:
- Don’t rely exclusively on Google products. Today, you often
have a choice; you can use WordPress instead of Blogger, for example. A healthy
diet includes a variety of foods; use this pluralistic approach when choosing
internet services; - Log out of your Google account when you’re not using Google
services; - Reset your browser occasionally; this wipes cookies and
browsing history. Or use “private browsing” settings.
some effort. Here are two articles that provide specific tips.
Online Privacy: How to Hide Your Google Search Trails: Eight steps for keeping your search-engine data private, by Amit Agarwal
Or, you could just move to a “remote mountaintop village,”
as suggested in this Onion satire:
Google Opt Out Feature Lets Users Protect Privacy By Moving To Remote Village
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