Google = NSA 2.0?
This post was published 3 years 3 months 17 days ago which may make its actuality or expire date not be valid anymore. This site is not responsible for any misunderstanding.In Google We Trust. That should be the inscription printed on each and every dollar bill. As a nation concerned with our privacy, we willingly bare our innermost secrets to the world.
What if I told you that I knew every website you visited, every email you ever wrote and received, every IM you ever sent and every call you ever made. I know how much your utility bills are, how much your American Express bill was, and that you have a proclivity to collect garden gnomes? Your reaction would be nothing short of utter outrage.
Now what if I told you that there is already a system in place that collects this information and has been doing so for years, and better yet, is not run by any government. It exists, and it is called Google: the vast black box of the information super highway.
Google, the search powerhouse, which will never stop until it assimilates and digitizes every piece of information ever created – From the Constitution to a child’s book report. They feel as though this is their destiny, and people keep feeding the beast. For what? A few gigabytes of email, and file storage? Is this worth the price of leaving yourself naked to the world?
Anyone remember the deal for Google to buy a stake in AOL? The key was AOL Instant Messenger, a multi-million user strong communication system. Mark my words: in less than 24 months Google will fully integrate with AOL, then will begin logging and capturing our conversations (meaningful or not).
And what protects you from this dystopian view of Google’s growth? A privacy policy. A one page document written by lawyers paid by Google to cover their own liability when things do go wrong. All your faith in a multi-billion dollar company whose sole job is to collect all the information in the world rests in that page; and, frankly, in Google you trust. I don’t.
Has anybody reviewed Google’s data disposal procedures? Exactly how long are search logs kept? Where does GMail go when it is “deleted?” Where do hard drives go when they die? Where are backup tapes secured? Is encryption in place? Has the company even been hacked? Are they willingly handing information over to the government behind users’ backs?
People willingly let Google do something that the NSA has wet dreams about doing: know EVERYTHING about you. You don’t even have to be a willing participant to be indexed. Soon, when Google lights up its dark fiber, they have the potential to be an internet backbone superpower. Once that happens, regardless of whether or not your web traffic is destined for Google, Google will have the power to catalog and retain this information anyway (Does the case of the secret AT&T wire tapping come to mind?).
And this is where the government steps in. To get these sensitive pieces of your life, all that the Justice Department needs is a secret warrant from a secret court (which they acknowledged exists), which is granted who knows how easily. User #8,889,863,279 is now publicly being scrutinized, no secrets.
Why is Google singled out? Because they are on the crusade to harvest all human data. But this litmus test should be for all providers of content. Hold them to higher standards than just a privacy policy,
and ask questions before you submit information.
Great piece Dan! I whole heartedly agree. Things google has that scare me.
Gmail
Google tlak
search history
analytics
adsense
their online spreadsheet application
groups
oh and let’s not forget
google reader!
all of those track your data as you search, store, create, learn, subscribe and offer feedback to learn everything about you. my gmail address adamjackson1984@gmail.com has everything when i t ype something in and it tells me BTW, someone in google groups has responded to a topic you created about the same subject I want to puke but google can do no wrong, right?
…*cough* yellow *cough* :p
i agreethey knw what i buy and what underwear i prefer..
I never search for ilegal things on Google just sayin. well not sayin I do. meh nvm
Yeah, but what can you do? ;-) ….isn’t spotlight just like “google desktop” in an apple wrapper? mmmm… google + Apple? arn’t they already best buddys?
You can do lots! And yes Google and Apple have been getting cozy lately
well, I guess you guys in the states are screwed then, no NSA in Canada and no secret courts. If it freaks you out so much, Stop using the services. My G-mail account is for spam only (i give it out when I don’t want to give my real one). I’ve never used Google talk, reader, or any of their applications and I never click on their ads. Don’t put all your eggs in one basket if you’re worried that basket may have a hole in the bottom. The rest of the stuff (search results, videos viewed) I really don’t care if anyone knows about it or not.
It’s always Google this, Google that. What about Yahoo mail and Hotmail? What do they do with our data? They probably do the same things that Google does with Gmail, search, etc.
I’d like to know what email service Robert uses. Do you have your own server? If not, then, you should start worrying.
The reason Google was selected was because they want total information assimilation. But these questions should be asked of every provider.
You forget that without google all this data would still end up being stored. Actually AOL did the same thing. The difference with google is that it is a responsible company who has resisted attempts by marketers and government alike to misuse this data.
And why should they. Most of their worth is tied up in that one page privacy policy and the fact that they have scruplously followed it for many years on end. i would think that google is more trustworthy than any other onlike service. It is definately more trustworthy than the NSA and comparing them is not correct.
In Soviet Russia, Google searches you!
“The reason Google was selected was because they want total information assimilation. But these questions should be asked of every provider.”
Yeah, I agree.
Anyway, I only use Gmail, Google Search, and Google Reader. I will never use Docs & Spreadsheets, Analytics, Groups and Blogger, etc. (I also use the CustomizeGoogle extension to anonymize my Google cookie UID.) I like to spread/dilute my info – I use Yahoo Groups & Flickr for group stuff, Wordpress for blogging and MSN Messenger for messaging. LOL And of course, Firefox to delete all my data & cookies after I close the browser. LOL
the reason google is singled out is because they don’t collect the data because they need to know about YOU… they collect the data to provide a statistically better service to earn more MONEY
always be afraid of people not looking to get more money
as I said numerous times, Google has a new privacy-breaching service? WHERE DO I SIGN UP?
Start worrying about what? The topic of this article is one entity (google) having sweetly coerced you into giving all your information to them. What I say is spread it around. It’s a virtual world. There are copies of everything you have done, said or searched everywhere. We all know this. Convenience comes at a price. You do have options, though. You can spend all your money and coding time to perfect a way to prevent google from reading an email to your aunt betty, go back to writing letters and researching in a brick and mortar library, or accept that this is the information age. Information is the currency for today’s electronic convenience. Want to download this? Give us your email address. Want more information on this other subject? Fill out this form. If your that worried, don’t do it. If your less worried, spread it around so that one entity isn’t king. If your not worried at all, sit back and enjoy what your information is paying for, electronic convenience. It’s what the internet promised us. Not anonymity.
To TK: I use my local cable provider in canada for my email and personal webspace. Here in canada ISP’s can’t give out info to the government, it’s in the charter. That was part (but not all) of the reason record companies couldn’t successfully sue anyone for downloading. If your worried about what the government will do with your info, change the government. Also, honestly not to sound like a d!ck, but the name is Roberto, not Robert. A slight oversight, I’m sure, but notice I didn’t shorten your name to T. Just a pet peeve, thanks.
Wow, Dan… lots of corrections there!
I love how NetNewsWire highlights changes in articles ;)
Yup – content is still the same, just fixed a few grammatical quirks.
The question is whether they can use that information to turn a profit.
There is little to be gained (as a firm) by Google investigating my every movement on the web, and thinking “That Paul’s got some dubious searches going on – better do something”. Why? Because there’ a billion other people like me and knowing about me alone won’t make them money. Google will be interested in trends, in client profiling, in understanding what is happening with their consumers as that is where the profit is.
Government will be interested in various things, general trends, investigations of criminals/potential criminal activity etc. but the amount of communications going on every single minute of every day is so unbelievably vast that they cannot begin to even assess 1% of what may, or may not, be available to them.
I apologize to Roberto for calling him “Robert”. I didn’t do it on purpose!
Anyway, I’m also in Canada, but I don’t use the email service provided by my ISP. I don’t trust them more than I trust Google. I prefer to merge all my data with the millions of people who use Google & Gmail than a couple of thousand people who use Rogers Cable or Bell, for example. Just a personal preference.
Can somebody help me answer these questions (I really want to know them, but don’t know who can answer me.):
Is our data safer in Europe? For example, if I use a free email service provided by a French company in France, would my data be safer? (For example, orange.co.uk or orange.fr) For example, when you sign-up for Hotmail and select your country (Canada, France, UK – There are different TrustE/Safe Harbor seals.)
All these “privacy” issues are really BIG in USA, but it doesn’t seem so in European countries (like Germany, France, etc.).
In Europe, there doesn’t seem to be ANY privacy issues. The only clashes we have with the governments are regarding taxes and other financial or social issues. I cannot remember the last time privacy issues were a topic here.
The ONLY thing that comes to mind is the British issue of the issuing of ID cards to British citizens – the English don’t want it. Sometimes this topic resurfaces every now and then. Other then that our identities are quite safe from the authorities – as far as we know
The problem is that if you’re in Canada or the US and you try to use email accounts in Europe, the data you’re writting is still passing through your ISPs. There is no limit to far you can be srutinised. The ULTIMTE thing to do is set up a satelite link from your house to some minor ISP in an Asian country that won’t even understand the English you use in your emails. Then you’ll have to use and alias, otherwise when you send an email to your American friends, those email providers can still trace you.
-Damn, the internet is surely not for the paranoid.
*sigh*, you are right. You can’t use the Internet if you are paranoid.
You know what? I only started being paranoid because I see articles like “Google = NSA 2.0?” these days. When I didn’t know anything about Privacy Policies and companies keeping backup copies, I wasn’t worried at all. I think majority of the people who use email think that once you delete your emails, it’s gone forever. That’s what I thought 5 years ago, but now, I’m getting paranoid about all this. The more you know, the more things you have to worry about. LOL
I have another question now. Since Dan wrote this article and he “seems” to be very concerned about his privacy online, does he use instant messengers/email/photo sharing services, etc.? What email service(s) does he use for his private/personal (i.e. non-work related) emails? Yahoo?
I see people writing about how they have their own servers and backup all their data there. Do they actually OWN a physical server or do they rent/pay for them from providers like GoDaddy.com?
Even if we all had our own servers, emails are like postcards so anyone can read them. And encrypting/decrypting is a hassle for most people.
Great Article!
This is basically our reality right now… It really scares me!
For some degree of anonymity, try the combination of TOR and HTTPS.
The one thing some people don’t get is that privacy and the internet were never meant to go together. The whole idea behind the internet is for people (originally research institutions of various types) to communicate with each other. Hiding your identity or activity was not a consideration, even though people started doing it early on. In order to protect privacy as we define it in reality, you won’t have to start with a totally different infrastructure and all new protocols (as far as I understand the technology).
Google is definitely good and bad, but everyone should understand that what you do on the `net is trackable, traceable and recordable.
The Best solution for the above problem – Stop Communicating…
not even an expression on your face that some one can peep
and take a lasting impression.
Thinking of the next best…
Can we change the way we trust? In trust there should not be
second thoughts. We have trusted Google as long as it is just a
search engine but later when it forayed into omni-digital areas –
second thoughts crop up…true??
Google coercing? — This is true looking at the acquisitions and
soaring userbase. Coercing?? — I dont think so..as I need not be
forced to beleive in Google – since its revolutionary search engine.
“The difference with google is that it is a responsible company who has resisted attempts by marketers and government alike to misuse this data.”
Google folds up like a cheap suit when faced with a REAL oppressive government. See:
http://www.breitbart.com/news/2006/01/24/D8FBCF686.html
Their motto should actually be “Don’t be evil unless it’s profitable.” It’s all about the benjamins, baby.
Great post. It poses the question of privacy, a topic we’re all worried about these days. You say: “Are they willingly handing information over to the government behind users’ backs?” Doubtful. For one thing, they were the only ones that didn’t hand over user data when AOL, MSN, and Yahoo did. (http://blog.searchenginewatch.com/blog/060119-060352)
The real question, the real fear here is not a fear of Google…it’s the fact that our government might be asking Google for this info. What right does the government have to peer into our private lives? A lot these days. The Patriot Act anyone? The government *IS* spying on us (http://www.eff.org/legal/cases/att). We need to take action where we can. We need to VOTE! (and support eff!)
I love how people always say “Vote!” as if it could actually make a difference. If it *could* make a difference, it’d be illegal.
In order for a vote to matter, the population needs to be educated and informed. This is clearly NOT the case in the USA (overall literacy scores in the USA are one of the lowest among developed nations, for example).
Add to that the easily hacked/tampered electronic voting systems which Big Brother (primarily republicans) have been so eager to push into common usage. If I vote, what’s the guarantee that my vote is recorded as I entered it? What’s my guarantee that it’s even *counted* and not “spoiled” along with 3 million or so other ballots? There’s no paper trail… how do we perform a manual recount (as opposed to a *machine* recount)?
Go ahead and yell about the wonders of voting, but when the vote can’t be trusted, and the voting people don’t know what they’re voting for/against, don’t be surprised when things don’t change….