Google Ogling
Friday, June 15, 2007
The issue of privacy is once again at the tips of our tongues and the culprit is, of course, the all mighty Google. One complaint revolves around the new Google Street View the other about why the company must store our information for 18 months, which was reduced from up to 24 months just this week. First, let’s examine Street View. Google went around some major US cities and snapped photographs of just about every inch of them on street level with a camera that was strapped onto a car. The images captured are now available for public viewing. What’s the purpose? You can check out a neighborhood virtually if you are, let’s say, moving there from far away or simply want to get a feel for the area where you will be having dinner tonight. In Tuesday’s Time article on this topic, Stephen Chau, product manager for Google Maps, describes one of his favorite and most practical uses of the service as checking out the street signs where he parked his car that evening to make sure that he won’t wake up to a parking ticket. So what is all the hoopla about? Well… obviously, some photos that were taken are a bit embarrassing (guy peeing on the side of the road) and some might even jeopardize reputations (guy climbing a fence, seemingly breaking into a building). In the Time article, Kevin Bankston, staff attorney for the Electronic Frontier Foundation, said “We don't think what Google's done here is necessarily illegal, though a few images may cross the line and may create liability. It's more that they've done something that's really irresponsible and rude to people.” So is it really all Google’s fault that people behave this way? Should the people themselves not be held accountable for their own actions? Google has an explanation as well. Chau contends, “Street View only features imagery taken on public property and is not real time. This imagery is no different from what any person can readily capture or see walking down the street.” Google also plans to blur out the faces of people captured in Street View, securing their anonymity. And what about Google saving our IP addresses in relation to our search queries for 18 months? This past week, Google received a complaint from the Working Party, which is a group of privacy policy advisors for the European Union. In response, Google made the change from storing the information for 18 – 24 months to just 18 months. Yet some are still concerned about this length of time. The other day, we were discussing this very issue in our office. Our SEO guru and Connors Vice President, Mike Levin, was explaining that privacy simply cannot be regarded with the same standards of even 10 years ago. This is our sacrifice to technology. But it’s not as dramatic as it sounds… 1984 is in the past after all and Google is hardly big brother. But I will say that it is always beneficial to have people on both extremes, fighting the “what ifs” and keeping Google and the like in line. Labels: Connors Communications, Internet
posted by Gina Bolotinsky
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