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2/17/201205:15 PM
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Thomas ClaburnCommentary
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Google's Privacy Invasion: It's Your FaultIf we really wanted
privacy, we would turn o JavaScript, block ads, and
browse in privacy mode through an anonymous proxy. But we would
ratherhave free services.
John Battelle, who runs advertising company Federated Media and
has written aboutGoogle for years, suggests as much in a thoughtful
blog post. "Might it be possible that
Apple is using data as its weapon, dressed up in the PR friendly
clothing of 'privacyprotection' for users?" he asks.
Indeed, it's possible.But Apple is too clever to be caught
taking direct action to hinder its competition withoutplausible
deniability. The company has recognized that justifying its actions
by claimingsecurity, privacy, or user experience benets will make
almost any change acceptable.
Apple's refusal to support Flash on iOS devices represents an
example of this. Its claimsabout security and performance issues
aecting Flash on mobile devices were fair
enough. But by shunning Flash, Apple achieved a business benet:
It crippled acompeting development platform.
Apple's Gatekeeper in its forthcoming OS X Mountain Lion oers
another example.Apple's next Mac operating system will block the
installation of apps from third-party
developers without an Apple Developer ID by default. This is
perfectly justiable on thegrounds of security (even if it
undermines Apple's previous assertions that malware isn't
a problem on the Mac). But it will also serve to reinforce
Apple's control of the OS Xsoftware sales channel.
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Apple's decision to block third-party cookies by default has
extra cover: The RFCs thatdene how browsers should handle cookies
indicate that third-party cookies should beblocked by default. The
major browser makers have not followed this recommendation,choosing
instead to rely on P3P, an automated mechanism for communicating
privacy
preferences that's generally seen as a compromise between
privacy ideals and businessneeds.
If we accept Google's explanation that this was an accident at
face value, and assume thatApple too is blameless and only wants
the best for its users, what are we left with? Is theWall Street
Journal too hard on Google because its owner, Rupert Murdoch,
thinks Googlesteals content, and perhaps goes easy on Apple to
secure better access to exclusives? Areconsumer advocacy groups
focused on Google because Google bashing makes headlines,
which help with fundraising?No, let's put the blame where it
belongs, on us, the users of the Internet. We rely on freeservices
like Gmail while insisting on "privacy," a term that we probably
can't even dene
to our collective satisfaction. We accept terms of service
contracts and privacy policiesthat explain in excessive detail how
we will not get privacy, how our information will be
used, and then we object.So instead of privacy, let's talk about
control. You do have some of that, still. Make some
choices about how your information will be used--because it will
be used--instead ofaccepting default settings.
If you object to the way Google does business, use ad-blocking
software. This is what theElectronic Frontier Foundation
recommends, at least until Google implements Do Not
Track in Chrome. Perhaps everyone will follow this advice,
Google will collapse, and thenwe can all just go back to
fee-for-service computing. How does a $0.25 per search and
$99 for an Android 5.0 upgrade sound?Here's to hoping that
Google oers a paid membership option that disables all
information collection and advertising across all its services.
Then we will nally be ableto see what the absence of privacy is
worth.
As enterprises ramp up cloud adoption, service-level agreements
play a major role inensuring quality enterprise application
performance. Follow our four-step process toensure providers live
up to their end of the deal. It's all in our Cloud SLA report.
(Freeregistration required.)
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Comments
ProsecondA338,User Rank: Apprentice9/8/2014 | 10:47:39 PM
Google invading our privacyBurn these CEO's to the ground
already people! Including the Gates. Time to shut this
new world disorder down for good.Reply | Post Message | Messages
List | Start a Board
Tom LaSusa,User Rank: Apprentice7/12/2012 | 3:32:39 PM
re: Google's Privacy Invasion: It's Your FaultFolks,
A friendly reminder that you are encouraged to be as vocal and
opinionated as youwant to be, so long as you do so in a respectful
manner. Insulting/derogatory/oensive
language will not be tolerated. Usage of such dialogue can
result in your commentbeing edited or removed -- and potentially
having your prole blocked.
ThanksTom LaSusa
Community ManagerReply | Post Message | Messages List | Start a
Board
duke,
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User Rank: Apprentice7/12/2012 | 12:21:39 PM
re: Google's Privacy Invasion: It's Your FaultThomas Claburn is
a douchebag. His "blame the victim" mentality is appalling and
insulting. Giving away something for free does not allow
ANYBODY, let alone ajuggernaut like Google to invade OUR privacy.
He also blames the victim for acceptingTOS contracts (ne print),
which are usually written in gobbledygook or in a way thatmost
laymen would not understand. Using Tom Claburn's logic, that would
actually bethe consumers' fault for being retarded (basically what
Claburn thinks of everybody)
and not the company's fault for invading your privacy. To give
an example of whatClaburn is trying to say, if you were to use the
telephone and it happened to be
tapped, it would be YOUR fault for using it and not the
telephonecompanies/government's fault. He also mentions in the
article that there is not a clear
consensus on what the denition of privacy is. How convenient! If
the word privacydoesn't even mean anything, then how can you invade
it? Funny, after a quick scan ofthe dictionary, privacy is dened as
such: "being free from being observed". Now, thatseems like a
denition that we all can accept "to our collective satisfaction".
Again and
not surprisingly, Claburn uses an illogical argument to justify
an invasion of privacy.Last, but not least, Claburn implies that
Google's privacy invasion is necessary for theconsumer to keep
getting free Google. Sorry, but privacy does not cost money - it is
afundamental human right (unless you are a tyrant). Claburn uses
the black and whiteargument that it's either no privacy and free
Google, or privacy and no free Google. If
that were true, it doesn't change the fact that Google is
invading YOUR privacy tomake a quick buck (and who knows what else
they're up to) when they could stillmake billions of dollars doing
things that don't require invading the consumers'
privacy. Good to know that Claburn puts corporation above
consumer.Reply | Post Message | Messages List | Start a Board
jdoncaster570,User Rank: Apprentice2/21/2012 | 5:39:18 PM
re: Google's Privacy Invasion: It's Your FaultFunny.. I have Do
not track Plus on my browser and this information Week page shows20
tracking devices (cookies) .. the highest I have seen on any one
page... glass houses
and all...Reply | Post Message | Messages List | Start a
Board
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Michael_,User Rank: Apprentice
2/20/2012 | 10:10:34 PM
re: Google's Privacy Invasion: It's Your FaultWho's fault is it
that you have come to rely on Google for just about everything?
It'syour own fault. "Google baited with a free service". You mean
"I took advantage of a
free service and now I'm complaining they want to run it the way
they want to run it".It's called advertising and it's been around
for quite a while now.
How many wealthy senior citizens do you think depend on Google's
free services? Gotell them they can't um-encumber themselves from
Google's inuence. Get ready to be
laughed at and called a fool."Trying to get your old emails back
that are archived on Google not so easy." Really?
How about taking two seconds to actually gure it out.
http://lmgtfy.com/?q=download+... Since you are too lazy to search
on your own, I will help you out
even more, click on the very rst link.Again, who's fault is it
that you are ignorant or too lazy to gure out how to do
something or use the tools that you use? It took me all of less
than a minute to nd outhow to do what you consider "not so easy".
Is it Google's fault or the fault of anybodyelse that you are
ignorant or lazy? (I could have used any search engine to gure
thisout btw). You just prove my point even more. People are either
too lazy or ignorant to
gure out how to use the tools they use. It's not judgemental
like DAGOSTA000 states,it's pointing out the facts, big
dierence.
Would you give your 16 old kid a new 100k Harley Davidson
Motorcycle and tell himto go use it when they don't know anything
about driving a motorcycle? With your
logic, the kid should already know how to use/drive a motorcycle
from the start, and ifhe doesn't it's Harley Davidson's fault if
anything bad happens huh?
"There's a sucker born every minute". Which category do you t
in? Don't answer that,I think we all know.
Reply | Post Message | Messages List | Start a
BoardTuleeGirl,
User Rank: Apprentice2/20/2012 | 5:42:07 AM
re: Google's Privacy Invasion: It's Your FaultI hate being
tracked by Google with their "above the rest" attitude. I thought
they
were 'special' when it came to using users personal information.
In the end it's every
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man for him self. Which translates to every search engine will
track you and keepcookies stored on your computer so they can
market products that you seem to be
interested in. Which is ne because I regularly delete them. I
delete all the L.S.O.'s aswell. I think those are worse. If not for
some research I wouldn't even know about theL.S.O's. I've disabled
my updates with Adobe so I won't have to worry about some
newtechnology development that I'll have to keep up with in order
to maintain my privacy.
And I thought the Patriot Act was bad!Reply | Post Message |
Messages List | Start a Board
Eschewing Obfuscation,User Rank: Apprentice2/20/2012 | 4:30:47
AM
re: Google's Privacy Invasion: It's Your FaultHow about rather
than hoping for Google to oer a paid membership option we hopefor
transparent disclosure and honesty? Privacy hawks aside, Google's
shareholders
have a right to accurate information regarding Google's
solicitation, use of, andstrategies for gaining personal
information. You can go back and forth about Safari
settings and Google opt-outs all day, but that's disingenuous.
Yes, every aspect of 'free'web services hinges on user data. But
when a publicly traded company purports to beabove all of that and
subscribe to the idea of 'don't be evil'', any failure to live up
to
that standard is an ethical failure to live up to stockholder
expectations.In terms of whether or not people care about privacy,
and where blame rightfully
belongs, the issue breaks in much the same way. If Google didn't
make such a largeissue of their trustworthiness and adherence to
privacy standards, then yes, average
internet users would be to blame for sacricing their own
privacy. BUT Googleadvertises itself as being above such
shenanigans. This is not a 'blame the dumbusers, they don't know
what they're doing' issue. This is a clear issue of bait and
switch. Google draws in users with promises of ethical behavior,
responsible usage ofdata, and respecting privacy. If it is not
prepared to live up to those promises,regardless of why, it should
not make them; When it fails to live up to its own
promises, its users should rightfully throw a t and demand
change.Don't blame users for expecting companies to act as
advertised. Blame companies for
making false promises.Reply | Post Message | Messages List |
Start a Board
Johnnythegeek,User Rank: Apprentice2/20/2012 | 4:11:14 AM
re: Google's Privacy Invasion: It's Your Fault
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Their are ways to access the web more privately. But most user I
am sure do not takeadvantage of it. We choose to demand free sites
and in the end the devil is marketingtracking cookies. Their are
some sites I prefer have less ads such as Hotmail. I hate
those right side bar ads. So now I pay a little every year to
make them go away. Theirare some free ways such as AdBlock and they
work well. But for me the most annoying
was pop ups and almost any browser blocks those if you want.
Otherwise I really donot care so much about ads. Their are ads
everywhere in life. So why should we think
the internet would be any dierent?Reply | Post Message |
Messages List | Start a Board
Howt,User Rank: Apprentice
2/19/2012 | 10:39:32 PM
re: Google's Privacy Invasion: It's Your FaultBy my own choice,
I have chosen to exchange personal data for Google services.
Thatis, when they are dealing o the top of the deck. In this
instance, their errant actions
were purposeful and hopefully will be found to be criminal.More
concerning is that Google is taking the sole hit. Why no mention of
the other
three advertising entities? Often, that which goes unspoken
tells most.For example, WPP is a holding company which owns many of
the world's largest
advertising rms. Is InformationWeek holding them to account?
DoesInformationWeek receive advertising revenue from WPP or its
subsidiaries? Both
advertising and journalism need to adhere to ethical
practices.There's a lot of shame to go around here and
InformationWeek itself remains in
question.Reply | Post Message | Messages List | Start a
Board
Tom Mariner,User Rank: Apprentice2/19/2012 | 9:09:39 PM
re: Google's Privacy Invasion: It's Your FaultMore than my fault
-- I encourage it! I like it when I browse for something and
everything else I do for a while gives me suggestions on
alternate products or where Ican get it for less! Yeah, I know ,
heresy in a world of ultraprivacy. Wait, it gets worse
-- in an age where a hospital can get ned $50,000 per name for
even the hint of aleak, I would rather have a health professional
nd out everything that has happened
to me so they can help me get better faster. There, I've said
it!
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If I get these benets and the icing on the cake is that it lets
me get all this great stuon the Internet for free, get to the bad
part. Granted, I am way beyond the age of
posting revealing pictures or text of stupid acts on a social
site, but am worried thatour young are going to nd themselves
denied something later because of youthful
indiscretion.And here's a really bad part -- we elect our public
ocials based not on how good theywould be at the job, but on who
has done less stu we can nd out about. I'm not real
happy about he "National Enquirer" method of getting a President
-- or TownSupervisor, but Americans seem adverse to actually
investigating, so maybe the
Internet watching those folks is not good for all of us.Reply |
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