Google and Big Brother

[Atrocities]

Well this just made the hair on the back of my neck stand tall. For good or bad its now out there.

Talk about being in bed with big brother

I don't know what to say to this other than it creeps me out and makes me seriously wonder why I even keep go on line any more. At least google is giving us the option to see what the snoopy government, big business, and covert marketers get to see.

Your entire web viewing history. Now you too can see interesting trends, visit any old pages, back log any sites that you have ever visited and so can everyone else. Just freaky.

Is it a good service or just another nail in the coffin of care free web surfing. Hell it could be said that one day a person could be prosecuted for posting their opinions on web sites, or worse, have what they post used against them in court, in making hiring determinations, or even whether or not to allow you access to your rights.

I am sure some day some company will spring up to sell potential employers all the information they could ever want to know about an applicant up to and including what web sites they visit, what they like to read and more importantly say and do on line.

I ask you, is this really where we want the path of freedom to go?

No one should own the information about where any one goes on line. That information should not be kept. It is akin to having radio ID chips implanted into everyone to track where they go each and every day. It is wrong. It can and will lead to horrific abuses of power.

It seems the more we become "wired" in the less freedom we have. And frankly that scares the hell out me. If someone wants to know where I have been, then they can ask me. Whether I am surfing the web or driving around the only person who needs to know where I am going or have been is me. And the old argument that if you don't have anything to hide, then why worry about it, is the tried and truth argument of a totalitarian point of view. The who point is, I should have to worry about it because no one should be asking. A society under surveillance is not a free society now is it?

[Edi]

This actually falls into the category of good service, BUT ONLY IF it is made very clear upon signing up for a Google account that it happens.

They do provide a way to remove it and it is not accessible to outsiders unless you have given them your password. The authorities will be able to get it via court order, the same as they can get your phone logs and other such information, though with all the hoo-ha and shenanigans about warrantless wiretapping, I would not trust that to be the de facto state of things (even though it should be).

Potential employers would have no way of getting that information unless it was something required for background checks in professions where it is necessary, and in those cases they would have to go through the relevant authorities who would require the relevant warrants etc. I have no idea of the privacy laws in the US, but I know they are less strict than ours, so it is possible that even unrelated information that came up that way could be used against someone, but here it would be forbidden.

Also, one starts to wonder how this service would gather all the required information when you are not signed in to your Google account. If you periodically clear your web cache, browsing history etc, where the hell would it get the information? My browser clears everything automatically every time I close it.

In other words, this is not as intrusive, drastic and draconian as it sounds at first glance and what some people may make it out to be. It is potentially a very useful service, but it also has potential for abuse. As long as you keep your wits about you, disable the thing and in general follow good privacy practices yourself, this is no problem at all.

It just happens that most people are clueless morons about stuff like this and never pay attention to all the forms they sign and approve and thus it is such idiots who will get it in the arse if this turns back and bites them. Then again, they will just reap the consequences of their own actions and stupidity, so I can't really feel much sympathy. Unfortunately, it's this subset that generates the most noise too.

[capnq]

From the thread title, I thought this was going to be about Google's complicity with The Great Firewall of China, which I consider far more alarming than this "service".

[Gandalf Parker]

I dont really see how it is a freedom thing. As long as the person CHOOSES to do it.

This is like the many "personal information" complaints that internet companies get from people who have no idea what personal information is protected by law or even what constitutes private information.

http://www.google.com/privacy_faq.html

I see the points on the other side of it. But to say that logs should not be kept seems out of place when you are talking about a service where the user is requesting that they keep logs.

[PvK]

As long as it's really clearly opt-in, then it's just somewhat creepy to me.

On the other hand, it does make me think:

* Where is the version that saves the data on your own computer in a private and secure form?

* Just because this asks you and gives warnings, doesn't mean the government and/or various corporations are not (or will not be) also keeping such records without choice warnings.

[Gandalf Parker]

Thats true anyway. Unless someone runs a server they dont realize how much logging goes on. The default settings for server logs tends to set people off. And thats not going into the many options that can be turned on. And there isnt really a choice in it. A server cannot completely turn off logging and keep their internet connection.

An interesting conspiracy notion that keeps popping up comes to mind here. The anonymous servers are very popular and able to keep running in spite of official pressure. Some have put forth the idea that the only people who would keep upgrading to handle that traffic for free must be people who are very interested in who would use such services.
In other words, that most anonymous servers are secretly run by the CIA

[Atrocities]

One day everything we do will be judged by someone. If that someone, say big brother, decides that what you're doing now, have ever done in the past now violates some new law, can then use what he has saved from watching you to prosecute you for violating this new crime.

You don't think this can happen in the US? That a law cannot go after people who broke it before it was a law? That that kind of thing would never happen? Well it did, not about spying on people, not yet anyways, but because of the domestic abuse law that prohibits any person who has ever been convicted, or plead guilty, to a domestic abuse charge from owning or handling a firearm. A lot of police officers lost their jobs because of this law. A lot of people who had already paid for their actions 10, 20, 30, 40, or more years prior where all of a sudden barred from exercising a constitutional right because congress decided to punish them retroactively.

I am telling you, one day what you do today, will come back to bite you in the ***. At some point the minority will convince the majority that the rules need to be amended so that the unjust can be weeded out and punished for crimes, even if what they did the day before wasn't a crime, now it is and they should be punished for it.

Think about how china restricts people in their country and how the "thought" police work in the Islamic nations. One day some company is going to grease enough palms to get a law passed that makes it mandatory to monitor everyones internet access for criminal behavior. They will get this huge government contract and before you know it, every click of your mouse will be bring you one site closer to a hefty fine and or prison sentence.

I wouldn't be a bit surprised if one day a law is passed stating that the internet isn't protected by free speech and that you have no right to privacy while surfing the world wide web. Your emails will have to go through a federal email sifter program so that you can be taxed for them, and the government can check them for illegal content.

Oh ya, laugh now, but trust me, one day you will look back at this rant and you will cry.

[Gandalf Parker]

I wouldn't be a bit surprised if one day a law is passed stating that the internet isn't protected by free speech and that you have no right to privacy while surfing the world wide web.

That wouldnt be too different than it is now. Under internet rules an admin is required to keep enough logs to be able to pinpoint an individual and delete the account of someone who is shown to be violating internet rules on things like spamming or cracking. If the system refuses then the system can lose its internet connection.

Also, at the moment there is nothing that particularly protects your content (posts, email, webpages, forums). The sysadmin can read them, and can delete your account because of them.

Thats actually how the internet is setup. Any laws created on the subject is likely to provide more protections. It would tend to limit who can read your stuff and why. Im not saying thats a good idea. I would rather that the internet is left to its own UN-style of government.

[Mindi]

And here I thought this was going to be about the controversy over google map's new street view that can pick up people on the street, license plates of cars, etc.

Street View