Google Empire: Smart or Scary?

Google, founded in 1998, has quickly evolved into an Internet empire with a series of acquisitions and partnerships beyond their development of its search engine.  Today, Google offers a plethora of products and services such as Gmail, Google Drive, instant messaging, Google + for social networking, Google Analytics and of course the web browser Chrome.  Google has acquired top-ranked products and technologies like Blogger, YouTube in 2008 for a mere 1.6 billion (NBC News, 2013), Android - only the largest cell phone operating system in the world and Motorola Mobility was attained for the largest pay out of 12.5 billion in 2011 (Google, 2014), all examples of how they continue to take on the digital world by storm. 

In January, Google snapped up Nest Labs. Nest's devices take home automation to the next level by actually monitoring users routines. The company's smart thermostat, for example, uses auto-away technology to detect when you leave the house. It then automatically adjusts the temperature to avoid heating or cooling an empty home (Walsh, 2014).  For Google, gaining visibility into people’s habits beyond computers and phones — whether watching television using Chromecast, taking a walk wearing Google Glass or managing their homes using Nest products — will provide a fuller picture of users.  While this seems useful, some people have concerns over the privacy implications of such products -- particularly now that Google will have access to additional information stored by Nest products (Walsh, 2014). 

According to the NY Times, Google Analyst Danny Sullivan states, “the more Google is tied into our everyday life, the more they feel they an deliver products we’ll like and ads.”  If fact, using location services Google knows the precise position of every Android-user’s Wi-Fi enabled device. To put that into perspective, according to ABI Research estimates 798 million people are using Android-based devices.  Positively, Google’s Android Device Manager will help users track lost or stones phones or tablets using your Google account to force them to ring or map them (Gold, 2013).

In 2013, Google faced outrage over changes in their privacy policy, which features comments, names, photos and video from its users in advertisements on website around the world.  Google + members that review and rate restaurants or must that Google + users share on other Google services will be able to be used by advertisers (Swan, 2013).  Are you a Google + user and would like to opt out, go to settings in your Google + account, and edit Shared Endorsements to opt out.

What information does Google Capture?

Google’s privacy policy was last updated on December, 20, 2013, which states they do not share personal information with other companies without opt-in consent of the user for sharing their name, email address or billing information, but there are a series of disclaimers to that statement.  They also state, “We will share personal information with companies, organizations or individuals outside of Google if we have a good-faith belief that access, use, preservation or disclosure of the information is reasonably necessary to meet any applicable law, regulation, legal process or enforceable governmental request (Google, 2014).

Device information: Google says it may collect device-specific information such as hardware model, operating system version, and mobile network information, including phone numbers.

Log information: When you use Google’s services or view content provided by the company, it may automatically collect and store that data in server logs. This information includes what you search for, the phone numbers of friends that you call, and how long you spoke.

Location information: When you use a location-enabled Google service, the company may collect and process information about your actual location, like GPS signals sent by a mobile device.

Unique application numbers: This number and information about the apps you install may be sent to Google when you install or uninstall that service or when that service contacts the company’s servers for automatic updates and other unspecified reasons.

Local storage: Google may collect and store information, including “personal information,” on your device using browser web storage such as HTML5 and application data caches.

Cookies and anonymous identifiers: The company says it uses unspecified technologies to collect and store information when you visit a Google service, possibly including sending one or two cookies or anonymous identifiers to your device, even when you interact with services the company offers to their partners (Castillo, 2013).

Google’s Tainted Track Record 

Google’s track record has been less than ethical. Google agreed to pay $17 million in compensation to 37 U.S. states over tracking consumers online without their knowledge.  The settlement was for Google circumventing privacy setting in Apple’s Safari browser in 2011. Safari blocked tracking cookies by default, but Google overrode the settings to track users both on desktop computers, iPhones and iPads (Reuters, 2013).  In 2012, the company agreed to pay $22 million in to settle a probe by the U.S. Federal Trade Commission relating to a similar matter. 

Do these fines present Google anything more than a slap on the wrist?  Picture this, in 2012 Google generated over $50 billion in revenue just through advertising (Reuters, 2013),

Too much power?

It’s a double-edged sword.  You don’t hear users complaining that a “free” internet search on Google just provided the exact information they were looking for in a split second because of its millions of servers of indexed data. Google cannot deliver relevant ads without knowing a level of your personal preferences. What you do hear concerns about is the leak of personal information through shared information, or companies on the Internet that have been discriminated in rankings because they are non-advertisers.

Google has more information than we can comprehend on their server logs, and with that power comes responsibility. Hackers, identity thieves and wrong-doers thrive on personal information, so whether intentional or not from Google, if harmful entities are able to get to their information, we as citizens must do everything in our capability to be smart when using monitored devices and limit it when necessary.

The good news is you can take precautions with the amount of information Google has access to.  Google’s privacy policy contains links to services that let you view and manage the information you share with Google. Some of this personal data you volunteer, and Google collects some of it as you search, browse, and use other services (O’Reilly, 2012).  Here are a few steps to manage your information:

Review your Google account
Review your Google Dashboard to access all the services associated with your Google Account (Gmail, Google Docs, YouTube, Picasa, Blogger, AdSense, and etc).

Manage browser data
In Chrome, cookies (browsing data) are allowed by default (Google, 2014).  To adjust this setting go to Chrome, select Settings, select Show advanced settings, in the “Privacy” section, click Content settings, in Cookies you can; delete cookies, allow/block cookies by default, keep cookies and site data by default until you quit your browser or make exceptions for cookies from specific websites or domains.

Ask Google to remove it
If you belong to any social networks, post picture or write blogs you more than likely have personal information appear in Google search results. To avoid this, ensure your setting are set to limit your information for each site. If there is information you just need to get removed from Google’s search results you can submit a request.

When I will start to worry is when I log onto Chrome to do a Google search and they tell me the blue sweater I am wearing matches my eyes and wondering if I am thinking of getting a Starbucks today.