There’s been quite a lot of talk lately about Google as some ominous Big Brother. But has their company really done anything but uncover what we’ve already done to ourselves?
We worry about privacy, but do we check to make sure our online purchases are secure? I personally took steps to make sure that no part of a credit card number is ever exposed anywhere on my site, and that when people purchase from my processors, it is secure every step of the way.
No one who works with my site, including me, ever sees a customer’s financial information- only proof of purchase in the form of a receipt number.
Of course, the growing uneasiness about onlin privacy in general is not unfounded. Identity theft is real, though statistically you are more vulnerable handing your credit card to a merchant in a store than you are typing it into a secure computer form online.
So why are so many of us so afraid of what information Google might have – particularly if Google isn’t accessing anything we don’t volunteer them?
Take Google Desktop – the latest focus is on this new tool. Many people are afraid to download it because they’re afraid a private email or other data of a sensitive nature could end up exposed on the Internet by accident.
But even if it were likely, the real question is – does Google Desktop make that possible?
The answer is no. You can find this out with only a little digging on your own part.
In fact, the main privacy concern you need to have about Google desktop is protecting your information from other people who use the same computer – not Google itself.
A quote from the Chicago Sun Times piece, Google leads the charge against file names:
“The software actually intercepts outgoing and incoming Google traffic, splicing desktop content into the results so that none of your personal information is ever sent to Google servers.”
On the other hand, Google Does collect information about you in other respects, such as your IP address when you load a page with Google AdSense banners, to protect against fraud. Its software also scans your emails in Gmail in order to provide the AdSense ads that appear beside your messages.
However, consider putting all that information storing into context.
The same argument could be made for people who use AOL. They know your banking information, so that you can pay. Thus, they also know your address, and probably your phone number too.
And what about Microsoft? Even if you don’t have a hotmail or msn account that reveals personal information about you, there is an argument stating that the software company is partially responsible if your computer gets hacked and stored credit card information is found and used.
But is that the fault of the computer company that makes software with known and exploitable vulnerabilities? Or our faults for leaving our sensitive information in the open? Or those who would seek to pry into your private lives for being opportunists?
All kinds of arguments can be made about where the responsibility starts and where it ends.
For my part, I use tools like Google desktop, which can certainly be used against me, and use it to protect myself.
The first thing I did was search my computer for my credit card number, to make sure that I – or someone I live with – hadn’t mistakenly left the numbers in the open for all to see. And of course, I had nothing to worry about.
But that’s just an example of how you can take some control of the information that floats through the Net about you. Personally, I do what I can to protect myself. There aren’t many among us who don’t have some piece of our identity on a computer somewhere, whether it is the color of our hair on file with the department of motor vehicles, or the social security number found on many paystubs.
Google is mostly made up of a suite of search tools. It does what it’s supposed to do. It finds things.
And instead of getting nervous about what might float out there about us, we can be more persistent in doing what we’re supposed to do, to the extent that we can prevent it, – be more careful in its distribution.
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