On December 2009, Google's CEO, Eric Schmidt, declared after privacy concerns:
"If you have something that you don't want anyone to know, maybe you shouldn't be doing it in the first place. If you really need that kind of privacy, the reality is that search engines — including Google — do retain this information for some time and it's important, for example, that we are all subject in the United States to the Patriot Act and it is possible that all that information could be made available to the authorities."
Privacy International ranked Google as "Hostile to Privacy", its lowest rating on their report, making Google the only company in the list to receive that ranking.
The problem here is that Internet users are sacrificing more and more of their ethical right to privacy, a problem that has been magnified by Google’s common practices. Currently Google shares user information and preferences with advertisers, which are gathered through cookies and stored on their servers until 2038.[1] Currently ninety-nine percent of Google's revenues come from advertising programs. This fact raises many concerns. There is the fear that at any point a criminal or even the government could breach their database of information for misuse. Google Watch has made allegations that the company has connections between NSA and the CIA. Furthermore, industry reports in 2006 claim that approximately 14 to 20 percent of clicks were fraudulent or invalid.[2]
From the user’s standpoint many would prefer to have anonymity but are willing to sacrifice this right in order to use the endless benefits offered by Google. Others are not concerned with privacy until they are personally affected by it.
So should Google modify their privacy policy. They could either keep the policy that they have today or improve their policy to offer increased privacy protections to their users. If they choose to do nothing, they would continue their growth and most likely exceed their Advertising revenues of $22.8 Billion.[3] However, the company that developed the motto of “Don’t Be Evil,” risks gaining critics and a bad reputation.
I think they need to improve their privacy policy. A good approach would be to use some of the suggestions from the Privacy Checklist prepared by Harriet Pearson, IBM’s chief privacy officer.[4] They should “align privacy with strategy” by taking a leadership stance in providing privacy online. With a market share of 65.6%, they are market leaders and should set a good example.[2] Next they need to be proactive and “anticipate issues” when they are launching new services. In the past they have been in such a hurry to bring products to market that they have missed key privacy concerns.
This carelessness has led to a class action suit related to its “Buzz” program, which exposed contact lists of users to other users. Its also resulted in an investigation by the FTC of the company’s collection of Wi-Fi data while driving around and taking pictures for the Street View function.[5] They should “treat privacy as a social responsibility” and should remember their old motto of “don’t be evil.” They should go back to the goal of putting their reputation ahead of short-term profits. Their bias can be seen in the following question: If collecting user information did not generate a profit would you still do it? Jim Buckmaster, CEO of Craigslist answered this question when he said that since his company does not care to maximize revenues there is no incentive to collect user information. Next, they should have a sound disaster recovery plan in place to address possible breaches. Finally they should keep in mind that each generation has its own privacy expectations. Younger users might have little concern for privacy when it relates to posting their personal information on social networking sites but might be opposed to having other information available.
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[1] Google and Internet Privacy, Darden Business Publishing, March 13, 2009
[2] Google, 2010, retrieved from http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Google
[3] Google investor relations, retrieved from http://investor.google.com/financial/tables.html
[4] “What Was Privacy”, Lew McCreary, Harvard Buisiness Review, October 2008
[5]“Google settles Buzz privacy suit, tells users by e-mail”, Cecilia Kang, 11/2/2010, http://voices.washingtonpost.com/posttech/2010/11/google_on_tuesday_said_it.html
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