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| | The Many Privacy Problems with Google's Entry into Broadband Telecommunications, and Why Users Won't Even Notice
-- By SethLindner - 06 Nov 2009 |
| | "Okay, so even if they DO know what's in my voice mail, I'm sure Google won't share that information about me to anyone, right? Let me take a quick look at their privacy policy to see what it says about all this."
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< | Google's privacy policy is what I would call attractively deceptive. The attractive part is what Google wants you to see. The first line reminds us that Google believes that privacy is important. Shortly thereafter, we see a link to the U.S. Department of Commerce's Safe Harbor Program. That sure sounds safe. Reading further, we see that our personal information will only be processed for the purposes described in the policy and that our sensitive personal information will only be shared with outside individuals/companies with our consent. Up until now, this seems pretty attractive. |
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> | Google's privacy policy is what I would call attractively deceptive. The attractive part is what Google wants you to see. The first line reminds us that Google believes that privacy is important. Shortly thereafter, we see a link to the U.S. Department of Commerce's Safe Harbor Program. That sure sounds safe. Reading further, we see that our "personal information" will only be processed for the purposes described in the policy and that our "sensitive personal information" will only be shared with outside individuals/companies with our consent. Further, the policy states that something called "aggregated non-personal information" may be shared with third parties, but that such information does not "identify [users] individually". Up until now, this seems pretty attractive. |
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< | Here is the deceptive part. If we look at how the terms are defined and at what uses Google explicitly reserves, we see that accepting this policy opens the door to some startling possibilities. For example, Google has permission to process personal information, which includes names, email addresses, and billing information, on behalf of and according to the instructions of a third party, such as our advertising partners. Does this mean that Google will only ever process our personal information according to the instructions of an advertising partner? No. It can process this information to suit the needs of any third party. We as users have no control over who this is or how the data is processed. And even if Google doesn't directly give away our names or addresses, it does allow targeted advertising. |
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> | Here is the deceptive part. If we look at how Google defines "personal information", "sensitive personal information", and "aggregated non-personal information" and what uses Google explicitly reserves, we see some startling possibilities. Let's begin with "personal information", which is defined by Google as information that "personally identifies you, such as your name, email address or billing information." This type of information can be "process[ed] . . . on behalf of and according to the instructions of a third party" although it seems as though "personal information" cannot be "shared" with third parties without user consent. This begs the questions of We as users have no control over who this is or how the data is processed. And even if Google doesn't directly give away our names or addresses, it does allow targeted advertising. |
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< | Google Voice has its own privacy policy that supplements Google's main policy. Here we find even more clever deception. For instance, if you delete something from your Google voice account, the deletion will take immediate effect in your account view. |
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> | Google Voice has its own privacy policy and even more clever deception. For instance, if you delete something from your Google voice account, the deletion will take immediate effect in your account view. |
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"Whew! Good thing I got rid of THAT message. I could be in big trouble if it got around."
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< | Unfortunately, the information is not deleted from Google's offline backup systems. In other words, it is there forever, permanently, and you've given Google permission to keep it. In effect, the only thing Google does when you delete the information is to keep you from being able to access it anymore. I suppose this is so you'll forget that Google still has it. |
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> | Unfortunately, the information is not deleted from Google's offline backup systems. In other words, it is there forever, permanently, and you've given Google permission to keep it. In effect, the only thing Google does when you delete the information is to keep you from being able to access it anymore. I'm sure Google would argue that these backups are necessary for system stability, but the danger is that most users will simply forget that Google still has it, once it is removed from their view. |
| | "A Higher Sense of Privacy" -- User Reactions to Google Voice |