Watchdog group gives Google an F for policies - AP news

It’s Sunday morning and I am on my deck enjoying coffee and reading the Sunday paper. Yes, the printed kind with ink left on my fingers and pages being inconveniently blown in the wind. This is my respite from online "stuff."  

But, as we all know these retreats don't last long. My local paper picked up the Associated Press story (“Watchdog group gives Google an F for policies”) on how Google was given a failing grade by the London based Privacy International for its policies on personal information. As I spent a good part of last week at SMX Seattle and discussed this issue, as well as wrote a piece on it, I was compelled to drop the paper, pick up my handheld p.c. and jot down some thoughts.

First among my thoughts on this issue is that the article does nothing to help the reader understand it. From a layman perspective one might think that Google knows everything about you and you are at risk of being terribly exposed to the world. While Google does collect and save search history they can only tie it to you if you let them or there is a considerable effort involving far more than Google. The general media has to do a better job of laying out the issue.

Second, and related to the first, Google's programs involving pii are opt-in. If you use Google, you know what you give them, you have access to their policies and, hopefully you can make decisions. If you are not comfortable then don't give away any information about yourself.  

Third, despite the market consolidators like Google, one of the neat things about the internet is the ease of executing choices. Unlike the OS debate where switching was too difficult for the vast majority and Microsoft had / has a virtual lock on the desktop, the URL could ultimately be thought of as the "User's Real-time Liberator."  We have choice.

Don't get me wrong, I am fully aware of the potential for abuse. As Google expands its reach with acquisitions the potential increases for one company to gain access to all the pieces of our information and put them together.  Permissions granted to an entity separately may be innocuous. But, when combined with that of another, can become very invasive.  As consumers, we have to be vigilant about who we deal with and what we share.  Perhaps I am too "American" but I do put a fair amount of responsibility on individuals to be aware of the companies to whom they give information.


Later that day... I had a chance to review the the study. PI did a poor job.