In a Google and Digital world, is there really such a thing as privacy?

Every time you click on a website, post on social media, use a mobile app and comment via email or even make a phone call, your data is collected for future use (Martin, 2014). This is essentially what others may call your “digital footprint.” This tracking of everything users do online has many consumers concerned about what is being inferred about them every time they do anything online. As more and more companies and business sectors collect data of one form or another on their users, how can we be assured that our digital footprint is safe and private? Truthfully, I don’t think we can. Is this ethical? Probably not.

So how does a company like Google play in to this whole digital footprint I mentioned? Google owns a myriad of products such as:

• A top-ranked search portal (this would be Google.com… duh)
• A popular (and widely used) email service (Who doesn’t used Gmail these days in some way?
• A VERY highly ranked analytics and reporting tool (Google Analytics)
• The largest distributed ad network (Google AdWords)
• Social media networks and a blogging platform (Blogger and Google+)
• An online chatting tool (Gchat and Hangouts)
• The ever popular (and largest) video content hosting site (YouTube)
• Cloud storage and document sharing (Google Drive)
• A Smart Phone operating system (Android)

And so much more… And every single one of these products or services provides Google with information about you that they can use. Google can collect a little bit of data about you from each and every one of the services I listed above, and they do almost effortlessly by integrating in to people’s lives so easily that people have begun to depend on them.

I’m not writing this blog post to say that Google is “evil” or anything of that matter; In fact, I actually really like (and in many cases use) many of the Google products.

So what am I writing this blog post about? There have been many discussions in the news about Google in regard to privacy, security, and ethics and I wanted to share some of my findings.

Google and Privacy

Many people say that Google has no privacy policy, and it has even been reported in some cases that Google said that user of their products had “no legitimate expectation of privacy” (del Castillo, 2013). Google openly admits to collecting information in two ways: Information that is given to them and information they get from the use of their services (Google, 2015).

Information that is given to them includes any personal information you use to sign up for a Google account such as your name, email address, telephone number, and in some cases a credit card. Also, if you take advantage of some of the social sharing options they offer, this personal information can include your name and photo.

Then there is the information that Google gets about you from the use of their services. Google states in their policy that they “collect information about the services that you use and how you use them.” This information can be broken down into roughly six different kinds of information that Google clearly states in their Privacy and Terms of Service statement:

1. Device Information: Google collects device-specific information such as hardware model, operating system version, mobile network information, and in some cases may associate your device with a phone number and your Google account.
2. Log Information: When you use a Google service or content that is provided by Google, they will collect and store certain information such as details of how their service was used (search queries), IP Addresses, device event information, and cookies that may uniquely identify your browser or Google Account (this information is likely used for Google Analytics data in some cases)
3. Location Information: Google uses various technologies such as IP addresses, GPS, and other devices that may provide Google with information on nearby devices such as Wi-Fi access points and cell towers (Google maps anyone?)
4. Local Storage: Google may collect information locally from your device using browser web storage and application data caches.
5. Cookies and anonymous identifiers: When you visit a Google service, a cookie or anonymous identifier may be sent to your device. This data can be used for advertising services or Google services that appear on other sites.
6. Unique application numbers: Certain services include a unique application number, and this information may be sent to Google when you install or uninstall these services. These can be sent to the Google servers to help alert you to updates necessary

So Google tracks everything you do, how much does this bother you? Should we be concerned? Is it time to give up on online privacy all together?

Trying to maintain privacy today is really difficult, and in many times can be really time consuming, complicated, and even exhausting. Everything these days is collecting data on you, and it’s not just Google. Facebook, Twitter, and Amazon can be considered just as guilty. If this is the case, then why do people continue posting the most personal things on a variety of social networks, but get really upset when there is a Google Ad presented to them based off of their browser history.

And my honest opinion on all of this? Sure, if Google wants to track me, good for them because all their going to find about me is that I run a lot and may have a slight obsession with shoes and cat memes. I am a fan of all of Google’s products and services and how they easily integrate in to my life and help me lead a more organized and social one at that. 

Think about it, where would we be without the Google search engine? I mean yes, we have Yahoo! And Bing, but who says they aren’t tracking you as well? Truth is, they probably (and most definitely) are it is just that Google has laid out this huge network of products and services that it is hard to avoid every single aspect.

So to answer the big question in this weeks assignment, how do I feel about the fact that Google collects data from millions of accounts every day and should we be concerned about it or is it just the price we have to pay to reap the benefit of Google’s great services. In this instance, I am going to say that Ignorance is bliss and I personally have no huge issues with Google.

In the end, if you want to keep something private, DON’T PUT IT ON THE INTERNET. It is as easy as that.

Source(s):

del Castillo, M. (2013, August 15). 6 Kinds of your information Google openly admits to collecting. Upstart Business Journal. Retrieved from http://upstart.bizjournals.com/news/technology/2013/08/15/6-data-categories-google-collects.html?page=all

Google. (2015). Privacy & Terms: Information we Collect. Retrieved from http://www.google.com/policies/privacy/#infocollect

Martin, E. (2014, March 27). The Ethics of Big Data. Forbes. Retrieved from http://www.forbes.com/sites/emc/2014/03/27/the-ethics-of-big-data/