Legal Research

Ongoing Developments in Personal Information

By admin

Since Google downplayed the “Don’t be evil” stuff under Eric Schmidt, things have gotten interesting on the personal information front.

Anyway, I thought you might be interested in these posts and links:

Who does Google know that you know?
Xeni Jardin at Boing Boing

This link will show you who Google knows that you know.

“[It] is the network of connections Google uses to identify relevant social search results. It is based on a combination of the following:
? Direct connections from your Google chat buddies and contacts
? Direct connections from links that appear on your Google profile
? Secondary connections that are publicly associated with your direct connections

In addition to web pages from your social circle, posts from your Google Reader subscriptions may also appear in your social search results.”

OK, now consider these quotes from Eric Schmidt:

From ReadWriteWeb:

Google CEO Schmidt: “People Aren’t Ready for the Technology Revolution”

Check out the full posting but consider this quote:

“Eric Schmidt spoke at the Techonomy conference in Lake Tahoe today and dropped some serious rhetorical bombs. “There was 5 exabytes of information created between the dawn of civilization through 2003,” Schmidt said, “but that much information is now created every 2 days, and the pace is increasing…People aren’t ready for the technology revolution that’s going to happen to them.”"

“The only way to manage this is true transparency and no anonymity. In a world of asynchronous threats, it is too dangerous for there not to be some way to identify you. We need a [verified] name service for people. Governments will demand it.”"

“”If I look at enough of your messaging and your location, and use Artificial Intelligence,” Schmidt said, “we can predict where you are going to go.”"

And another interesting post:

Report: Google, CIA investing in “Future of Web Monitoring”

Learn more about Google Social Search:

Introducing Google Social Search: I finally found my friend’s New York blog!

Search is getting more social

One wag commented, tongue firmly in cheek, on Twitter recently that there had been a massive disruption of his privacy. Humourously, he noted that the phone book had been delivered to everyone’s doorsteps in his neighbourhood and it contained his address and phone number! And all of his friends too! He had been so careful not to share this personal information with Facebook.

Ironic and sardonic but a point nicely made about personal information. Banks and credit card companies have been selling/sharing personal data for many years longer than social networking sites have existed.

I see nothing about me that worries me when I check the link. I would probably worry if it was a total blank. That might imply that I have no network to an employer or that I have lite web skillz. (grin) You just never know what folks might infer.

Anyway, Maybe Mark Zuckerberg, founder of Facebook, was on to something when he famously / infamously asserted in January 2010:

Facebook’s Zuckerberg Says The Age of Privacy is Over

“Facebook founder Mark Zuckerberg told a live audience yesterday that if he were to create Facebook again today, user information would by default be public, not private as it was for years until the company changed dramatically in December.”

I suppose the real core issue is where ‘choice’ lies. Shall we do a survey?

Who should make the choices about the use of personal infomration?:
You?
Parents and Guardians for under 12/14/16/18/19/21?
Your employer? (past and present?)
The Government? & Foreign Governments?
Private companies?
Spy, Military and Security Agencies?
An independent body?

And who passes laws here? Do treaties apply?

Hmmmm. It’s complicated. But there are questions worth askng a debates worth participating in.

Stephen

Full post as published by Stephen's Lighthouse on August 07, 2010 (boomark / email).