The End of Privacy

[xchrom]

http://motherjones.com/kevin-drum/2012/01/end-privacy-google

A few days ago Google announced a new privacy policy: If you're signed into any Google service, the information that Google collects from you can be combined with information from every other Google service to build a gigantic profile of your activities and preferences. On Tuesday I wrote that I was pretty unhappy about this, and a lot of people wanted to know why. After all, Google says this new policy will mean a better computing experience for everyone:

Our recently launched personal search feature is a good example of the cool things Google can do when we combine information across products. Our search box now gives you great answers not just from the web, but your personal stuff too…But there's so much more that Google can do to help you by sharing more of your information with…well, you. We can make search better—figuring out what you really mean when you type in Apple, Jaguar or Pink. We can provide more relevant ads too. For example, it's January, but maybe you're not a gym person, so fitness ads aren't that useful to you. We can provide reminders that you're going to be late for a meeting based on your location, your calendar and an understanding of what the traffic is like that day.

So what's my problem? Easy. In that mass of good news, the real reason for Google's announcement was stuffed quietly into the middle: "We can provide more relevant ads too."

This is so obvious that no one even paid attention to it. Of course Google wants to target its ads better. That's where most of its revenue comes from. Yawn.


*** since my personal view is that privacy was already dead -- google just killed it deader.

[dickthegrouch]

1. Seems to me the simple answer is

Don't sign in. Use as much of their service as possible without providing the tracking information.

They are going to have a hell of time figuring out what to do when the EU mandates "Forget me" provisions. I'll tell google to forget me every week

[xchrom]

2. forget me?!?!

love it!

[dickthegrouch]

5. It made lots of the security blog headlines

http://www.worldcrunch.com/new-digital-freedom-showdown-european-leaders-push-tough-internet-privacy-laws/4555

[xchrom]

6. that's pretty cool. i totally missed that story. thanks nt

[bemildred]

3. You have no privacy on the internet.

If you tell people, it's not secret anymore.

[LiberalEsto]

4. I de-Googled

This was the last straw.

I switched to the Ixquick and Yippy search engines, made DU my home page, and installed a Firefox add-on called Ghostery that tells you what secret scripts are running on any given web page and allows you to block them.

Google can go fuck itself.

[dixiegrrrrl]

7. Ghostery is a cool add on.

I think I stopped using it because it was not happy on Linux, but I had it on Windows.

I just added duckduckgo and Ix quick to my search options, and am unhooking from Gmail.

[dickthegrouch]

8. DU uses Google as its search engine

I wonder what they (Google) are collecting about us without our ever having signed up with them?

[tawadi]

9. So it's about money

Good post. Thanks.