Thread: Google forges ahead with search, privacy changes despite regulatory scrutiny

Google forges ahead with search, privacy changes despite regulatory scrutiny
By Brendan Sasso - 01/29/12 06:15 AM ET

Google is forging ahead with changes to its search engine and its privacy policy despite the risk of a crackdown by government regulators.

Earlier this month, Google began highlighting content from its social networking site Google+ in search results. Critics argue that by giving a preference to its own service over competitors like Facebook and Twitter, Google ran afoul of antitrust laws that ban anticompetitive behavior.

The Federal Trade Commission (FTC) was already investigating Google for potential antitrust violations, and a consumer group has urged the agency to include the search changes as part of its probe.

Just as the furor over the search changes began to subside, Google announced an overhaul of its privacy policy, allowing it to share user information across its various services. The change means users could see ads in Gmail based on the videos they watch on YouTube, for example.

Both moves were bold considering Google is already under intense scrutiny for potential antitrust and privacy violations.

"They made the calculation that the response would be manageable," said Larry Downes, a fellow with think tank TechFreedom and an expert on corporate strategies and technology law.

"They've been under so much scrutiny from the FTC and certain members of Congress, I think they made the decision we are going to just carry on as usual."

Both of Google’s moves make sense from a business perspective. Highlighting social networking content could make search results more personalized and relevant and could give a boost to Google+, which still lags far behind Facebook.

And merging the company's privacy policies will allow Google to tailor search results to individual users and could boost advertising sales, Google's primary source of revenue.

But the moves aren’t without their costs.

The privacy update sparked an outcry from lawmakers who worry about the detailed information Google is assembling on its users.

GOP Rep. Marsha Blackburn (Tenn.), no fan of aggressive regulations, accused the Web giant of moving to "eradicate consumer choice" and warned it might "unilaterally and unnecessarily invite even broader government regulations on everyone else."

On Friday, Reps. Ed Markey (D-Mass.) and Joe Barton (R-Texas) asked the FTC to investigate whether the privacy changes violate Google's settlement last year over its now defunct social network, Google Buzz. The FTC accused Google of violating its own privacy policy by not allowing users to opt out of Buzz, and the settlement imposed a set of new privacy requirements on Google.

In a blog post, Google emphasized users still have control over their privacy settings and said it will not collect any new data about users.

A Google spokesman said the update makes the privacy policy easier to understand and noted the company was already sharing some information between services. Google Calendar, for example, suggests names based on a user's contacts in Gmail.

Downes said if Google tried to hold out for less scrutiny before changing its products, it could end up waiting forever.

He pointed to the case of IBM, which he said was so "paranoid" about antitrust issues in the 1980s that the company failed to make bold business moves and fell behind its competitors.

Google's mindset is likely: "Until we're sued, we're just going to carry on running the company the way that we think is legal and is best for our users," Downes said.

He said the antitrust allegations pose a far more serious threat to Google than the concerns about privacy violations.

"There's no real privacy law outside of medical records," Downes said.

Antitrust law, on the other hand, can be used to break a company apart.

FTC commissioners, including Chairman Jon Leibowitz, have argued they have the power to bring a "pure Section 5" suit in which the FTC sues a company for anticompetitive conduct without having to prove the conduct harms consumers.

The FTC has never filed a pure Section 5 suit before.

Downes said Google would be a good test case for regulators because proving consumer harm is difficult when the company gives its products away for free, as Google does.

A sweeping antitrust case against Google could be devastating for the company.

The Justice Department's antitrust suit against Microsoft in the early part of the last decade "took a lot of wind out of their sails," Downes said.

In addition to the legal penalties, a drawn-out court battle can drain a company's resources and lead its best talent to leave.

"Antitrust is a potential bomb that can be thrown at any company," he said.

He added that if regulators plan to move against Google, it would likely come in the next few months.

"The next president, if there is one, might not have that same sweeping view about antitrust law," Downes said.


Google forges ahead with search, privacy changes despite regulatory scrutiny - The Hill's Hillicon Valley


I will not sign anything for google. Period.....Any one have an opinion this and what we need to do??

New Google data policy
raising MAJOR privacy concerns

New Google privacy policy combines

user data from all Google services


Search Engine Watch

Has Google gone too far to the dark side?

�Google�s new privacy announcement is frustrating and a little frightening,� Common Sense Media chief executive James Steyer told the Washington Post. �Even if the company believes that tracking users across all platforms improves their services, consumers should still have the option to opt out � especially the kids and teens who are avid users of YouTube, Gmail and Google Search.�

Note to Mr. Steyer: they do have the right to opt out. It�s called using another website or not signing in.

�There is no way anyone expected this,� Jeffrey Chester, executive director of the Center for Digital Democracy, a privacy advocacy group, also told the Washington Post. �There is no way a user can comprehend the implication of Google collecting across platforms for information about your health, political opinions and financial concerns.�

Calm down. There are numerous free alternatives for search engines, email, video, maps, and other products Google offers. Or, maybe, you could make two or three different Google accounts if you're so worried or you simply don't want to transfer data from one service to another.

Will Google Cross the (Creepy) Line?

Creepy? Sure. But this is from a company that, according to Schmidt, �is to get right up to the creepy line and not cross it.�

It wasn�t too long ago that the FTC said Google violated its privacy policies when it launched Google Buzz �by using information provided for Gmail for another purpose - social networking - without obtaining consumers� permission in advance.� That can�t be said anymore. Google is telling everyone when they sign up that any information they submit to Google while logged in can be used with other Google services.

Perhaps the real creepy factor you should be worried about is Google�s growing relationship with the government. There�s also the question of what happens if your unified Google account gets hacked.

Again, however, Google is optional. You may leave at any time and choose not to put all your eggs in their basket.

Read more here



Google facing criticism

over relationship with US government

TG Daily

Don�t be evil. Google claims that�s their company motto but consumer and taxpayer advocacy group, Consumer Watchdog has accused the Internet giant of committing misdeeds last week.

According to redOrbit.com it started last Monday when Consumer Watchdog debuted an animated satirical video on the streets of Washington DC, called �Mr. Schmidt Goes to Washington�. The video was displayed on a mobile video screen attached to a truck and it is part of the case for why the group thinks Congress should call Google CEO Eric Schmidt to testify under oath.

The video shows Google�s CEO testifying before Congress using real-life, creepy quotes from Schmidt about privacy. Consumer Watchdog believes that he should have to answer questions about the Wi-Spy controversy and other privacy issues, and they also said the company�s close ties to the National Security Agency should be investigated.

The group sent a letter out last Monday pleading with Representative Darrell Issa (R-CA), the new chairman of the House Oversight and Government Reform Committee, to examine the nature of the relationships between Google and several government agencies.

In their letter, the group asks Issa to investigate contracts at many US agencies for Google technology and services, the �secretive� partnership between Google and the NSA, and the company�s use of a National Aeronautics and Space Administration airfield in California.

They also say in the letter that federal agencies have taken �insufficient� action in response to admissions last year that Google Street View cars were gathering data from open Wi-Fi connections they passed, Consumer Watchdog said in the letter.

�We believe Google has inappropriately benefited from close ties to the administration,� they said in the letter. �Google is most consumers' gateway to the Internet. Nonetheless, it should not get special treatment and access because of a special relationship with the administration.�

Consumer Watchdog might have some luck with Issa. In July, he mailed a letter to Google where he raised concerns that White House Deputy Chief Technology Officer Andrew McLaughlin, former chief of global public policy for Google, had improper email communication with company workers.

Read more here

Google facing criticism over relationship with US government, privacy | TG Daily

Thanks in no small part to it's cozy relationship with our corrupt
and overbearing government, Google has been able to create a
virtual monopoly on internet navigation.

Sure, there's Yahoo, Bing, and a slew of others, but if you want
results you're going to have to go to Google who is spying on you,
collecting your information, creating detailed profiles on you, and
selling them.

Google knows that their nearest competitor is a skunk, that's why
their new privacy policy is take it or leave. The only way to
opt-out is to not use Google.

What ever happened to "Don't be evil"...

Video:

Offensive technology New Google data policy raising MAJOR privacy concerns

Goodman Green
- Brasscheck

P.S. Please share Brasscheck TV e-mails and
videos with friends and colleagues.

That's how we grow. Thanks.

February 1, 2012 | By Rainey Reitman
What Actually Changed in Google’s Privacy Policy
It Shouldn't Take a Letter from Congress for Google to Give Straight Answers About Privacy Policy Changes

Last week, Google announced a new, simplified privacy policy. They did a great job of informing users that the privacy policy had been changed through emails and notifications, and several experts (including Ontario’s Privacy Commissioner Dr. Ann Cavoukian) have praised the shift toward a simpler, more unified policy. Unfortunately, while the policy might be easier to understand, Google did a less impressive job of publicly explaining what in the policy had actually been changed. In fact, it took a letter from eight Representatives to persuade them to provide straightforward answers to the public about their new policy.

Here’s what you need to know about the substantive changes in the new policy:

Up until March 1, 2012, the data Google collected on you when you used YouTube was carefully cabined away from your other Google products. So, in effect, Google could use data they collected on YouTube to improve and customize the users’ YouTube experience, but couldn’t use the data to customize and improve user experience on, say, Google+.
The same siloing took place for your search history. Previously, Google search data was kept separate from other products. Even when users were logged in, Google promised not to share the information they gathered about you from your Google search history when customizing their other products. Considering how uniquely sensitive user search history can be (indicating vital facts about your location, interests, age, sexual orientation, religion, health concerns, and much more), this was an important privacy protection.

The new privacy policy removes the separation between YouTube, Google search, and other Google products. By describing the change as "treat[ing] you as a single user," Google intends to remove the privacy-protective separations from YouTube and Google search

Unfortunately, Google’s original explanation left much to be desired. The policy’s overview page said nothing about the substantive changes that were occurring in the policy, and the FAQ was equally vague:

What’s different about the new Privacy Policy?

First, we’ve rewritten the main Google Privacy Policy from top to bottom to be simpler and more readable. The new policy replaces more than 60 existing product-specific privacy documents. This all should make it easier for you to learn about what data we collect and how we use it.

Second, the new policy reflects our efforts to create one beautifully simple, intuitive user experience across Google. It makes clear that, if you have a Google Account and are signed in, we may combine information you’ve provided from one service with information from other services. In short, we can treat you as a single user across all our products.

"Beautifully simple" and the ability to "treat you as a single user" don’t actually get at the kernel of what changed: that they are specifically enacting a change to how they treat data they collect through YouTube and search history. To be clear, they aren’t collecting more information, but they are sharing that information in a new way.

We were heartened to see the letter and Q&A Google published yesterday in response to the questions from Congress in which they gave straight answers about their new policy. They stated:

Specifically, our policies meant that we couldn’t combine data from YouTube and search history with other Google products and services to make them better. So if a user who likes to cook searches for recipes on Google, we are not able to recommend cooking videos when that user visits YouTube, even though he is signed in to the same Google Account when using both.

This is a great deal clearer than their original notification, so we applaud that. It’s unfortunate that it took a letter from Congress to get them to give the public straightforward explanations.

For individuals who would like to continue using Google products, but want to create some type of silo between Google search, YouTube, and other products, there is an option to set up multiple Google accounts. Users can set up two or more accounts as long as they have different Gmail addresses; however, individuals using this strategy to protect their privacy should be careful not to commingle-consider using separate browsers for each of your Google accounts. To be extra careful, users might want to use the Data Liberation tool to grab a copy of all of their data from a particular Google product, delete the data from the original account, and then upload that data onto the new account. For example, an individual might set up a secondary Google account for browsing and sharing YouTube videos. She could then download all of her existing YouTube videos to her computer, delete them from her primary Google profile, and then use a separate browser to upload them to a new secondary Google account. Unfortunately, this is a somewhat laborious process. To help users who wish to keep separate accounts, Google should make the process simpler and easier.

Users who are concerned about search privacy can find additional advice in our whitepaper: 6 Tips to Protect Your Search Privacy.

https://www.eff.org/wp/six-tips-prot...search-privacy

Six Tips to Protect Your Search Privacy
Related Issues
Privacy, Search Engines
September 14, 2006

By Peter Eckersley, Seth Schoen, Kevin Bankston, and Derek Slater.

Google, MSN Search, Yahoo!, AOL, and most other search engines collect and store records of your search queries. If these records are revealed to others, they can be embarrassing or even cause great harm. Would you want strangers to see searches that reference your online reading habits, medical history, finances, sexual orientation, or political affiliation?

Recent events highlight the danger that search logs pose. In August 2006, AOL published 650,000 users' search histories on its website.1 Though each user's logs were only associated with a random ID number, several users' identities were readily discovered based on their search queries. For instance, the New York Times connected the logs of user No. 4417749 with 62 year-old Thelma Arnold. These records exposed, as she put it, her "whole personal life."2

Disclosures like AOL's are not the only threats to your privacy. Unfortunately, it may be all too easy for the government or individual litigants to subpoena your search provider and get access to your search history. For example, in January 2006, Yahoo!, AOL, and Microsoft reportedly cooperated with a broad Justice Department request for millions of search records. Although Google successfully challenged this request,3 the lack of clarity in current law leaves your online privacy at risk.

Search companies should limit data retention and make their logging practices more transparent to the public,4 while Congress ought to clarify and strengthen privacy protections for search data. But you should also take matters into your own hands and adopt habits that will help protect your privacy.

The Electronic Frontier Foundation has developed the following search privacy tips. They range from straightforward steps that offer a little protection to more complicated measures that offer near-complete safety. While we strongly urge users to follow all six tips, a lesser level of protection might be sufficient depending on your particular situation and willingness to accept risks to your privacy.

1. Don't put personally identifying information in your search terms (easy)

Don't search for your name, address, credit card number, social security number, or other personal information. These kinds of searches can create a roadmap that leads right to your doorstep. They could also expose you to identity theft and other privacy invasions.

If you want to do a "vanity search" for your own name5 (and who isn't a little vain these days?), be sure to follow the rest of our tips or do your search on a different computer than the one you usually use for searching.

2. Don't use your ISP's search engine (easy)

Because your ISP knows who you are, it will be able to link your identity to your searches. It will also be able to link all your individual search queries into a single search history. So, if you are a Comcast broadband subscriber, for instance, you should avoid using SEARCH - WEB SEARCH - XFINITY.com. Similarly, if you're an AOL member, do not use AOL Search or the search box in AOL's client software.

3. Don't login to your search engine or related tools (intermediate)

Search engines sometimes give you the opportunity to create a personal account and login. In addition, many engines are affiliated with other services -- Google with Gmail and Google Chat; MSN with Hotmail and MSN Messenger; A9 with Amazon, and so on. When you log into the search engine or one of those other services, your searches can be linked to each other and to your personal account.

So, if you have accounts with services like Google GMail or Hotmail, do not search through the corresponding search engine (Google or MSN Search, respectively), especially not while logged in.

If you must use the same company's search engine and webmail (or other service), it will be significantly harder to protect your search privacy. You will need to do one of the following:

Install two different web browsers to separate your search activities from your other accounts with the search provider. For example, use Mozilla Firefox for searching through Yahoo!, and Internet Explorer for Yahoo! Mail and other Yahoo! service accounts.6 You must also follow Tip 6 for at least one of the two browsers.7
For Google and its services, you can use the Mozilla Firefox web browser and the CustomizeGoogle plugin software. Go to CustomizeGoogle: Improve Your Google Experience -- Firefox Extension and click "Install." Restart Firefox and then select "CustomizeGoogle Options" from the "Tools" menu. Click on the "Privacy" tab and turn on "Anonymize the Google cookie UID." You must remember to quit your browser after using GMail and before using the Google search engine.8 In addition, be sure not to select the "remember me on this computer" option when you log into a Google service.

If you are using a browser other than Firefox, you can use the GoogleAnon bookmarklet, which you can obtain at Anonymizing Google's cookie. You will need to quit your browser every time you finish with a Google service. Unfortunately, we currently do not know of similar plugins for other search providers.9

4. Block "cookies" from your search engine (intermediate)

If you've gone through the steps above, your search history should no longer have personally identifying information all over it. However, your search engine can still link your searches together using cookies and IP addresses.10 Tip 4 will prevent tracking through cookies, while Tips 5-6 will prevent IP-based tracking. It's best to follow Tips 3-6 together -- there is less benefit in preventing your searches from being linked together in one way if they can be linked in another.

Cookies are small chunks of information that websites can put on your computer when you visit them. Among other things, cookies enable websites to link all of your visits and activities at the site. Since cookies are stored on your computer, they can let sites track you even when you are using different Internet connections in different locations. But when you use a different computer, your cookies don't come with you.11

From a privacy-protection perspective, it would be best to block all cookies. However, because cookies are necessary for accessing many websites, it may be more convenient (though less privacy-protective) to allow short-lived "session" cookies. These cookies last only as long as your browser is open; therefore, if you quit your browser, re-open it, and then go back to your search engine, your search provider will not be able to connect your current searches with previous ones via your cookies.

Use the following steps to allow only "session cookies," and remember to quit your browser at least once a day but ideally after each visit to your search provider's site. We recommend that you use Mozilla Firefox and apply these settings:

From the "Edit" menu, select "Preferences"
Click on "Privacy"
Select the "Cookies" tab
Set "Keep Cookies" to "until I close Firefox" 12
Click on "Exceptions," type in the domains of all of your search sites, and choose "Block" for all of them

screenshot



If you use Microsoft Internet Explorer to surf the web:

From the Internet Explorer "Tools" menu, select "Internet Options"
Click on the "Privacy" tab and then press the "Advanced" button
Click on "Override automatic cookie handling"
Set both "first party" and "third party" cookies to "Block"
Select "Always allow session cookies"

screenshot width="400" border="0">

5. Vary your IP address (intermediate)

When you connect to the Internet, your ISP assigns your computer an "IP address" (for instance, EFF's web server's IP address is 72.5.169.162). Search providers -- and other services you interact with online -- can see your IP address and use that number to link together all of your searches. IP addresses are particularly sensitive because they can be directly linked to your ISP account via your ISP's logs. Unlike cookies, your IP address does not follow your computer wherever it goes; for instance, if you use your laptop at work through AT&T, it will have a different IP address than when you use it at home through Comcast.

If your ISP gives you a changing, "dynamic" IP address,13 or you surf from an office computer that is behind the same firewall as lots of other computers, then this concern is diminished. However, if you have a dynamic IP address on a broadband connection, you will need to turn your modem off regularly to make the address change. The best way to do this is to turn your modem off when you finish with your computer for the day, and leave it off overnight.

On the other hand, if you have an unchanging, "static" IP address, you will certainly need to use anonymizing software to keep your address private; see Tip 6.

6. Use web proxies and anonymizing software like Tor (advanced)

To hide your IP address from the web sites you visit or the other computers you communicate with on the Internet, you can use other computers as proxies for your own -- you send your communication to the proxy; the proxy sends it to the intended recipient; and the intended recipient responds to the proxy. Finally, the proxy relays the response back to your computer. All of this sounds complicated, and it can be, but luckily there are tools available that can do this for you fairly seamlessly.

Tor (http://www.torproject.org) is a software product that encrypts then sends your Internet traffic through a series of randomly selected computers, thus obscuring the source and route of your requests. It allows you to communicate with another computer on the Internet without that computer, the computers in the middle, or eavesdroppers knowing where or who you are. Tor is not perfect, but it would take a sophisticated surveillance effort to thwart its protections.14

You also need to make sure that your messages themselves don't reveal who you are. Privoxy (Privoxy - Home Page) helps with this, because it strips out hidden identifying information from the messages you send to web sites. Privoxy also has the nice side benefit of blocking most advertisements and can be configured to manage cookies. (Privoxy comes bundled with Tor downloads.)

You can also use web proxies like Anonymizer's (Hide IP and Anonymous Web Browsing Software — Anonymizer) Anonymous Surfing. This option is more user-friendly but possibly a less effective method of anonymizing your browsing. Anonymizer routes your web surfing traffic through their own proxy server and hides your IP address from whatever web sites you visit. However, Anonymizer itself could in principle have access to your original IP address and be able to link it to the web site you visited; therefore, that service is only as secure as Anonymizer's proxy facilities and data retention practices. While there is no reason to believe that Anonymizer looks at or reveals your information to others (we know the people currently running Anonymizer and they are good folks), there is little opportunity to verify their practices in these regards.

Using Tor and Privoxy is more secure because one untrustworthy proxy won't compromise your search privacy. On the other hand, web proxies like Anonymizer are slightly easier to use at present.

Tor and Privoxy downloads and instructions can be found here: http://www.torproject.org/download.html.en

Conclusion

If you've implemented all six tips, congratulations -- you're now ready to search the Web safely. These steps don't provide bulletproof protection, but they do create a strong shield against the most common and likely means of invading your privacy via your search history.

September 2006

1 For more on the disclosure, see http://eff.org/Privacy/AOL.

2 See A Face Is Exposed for AOL Searcher No. 4417749 - New York Times.

3 See http://eff.org/Privacy/search for documents related to Google's challenge. The logs were to be used as evidence in a case in which the government is defending the constitutionality of the Child Online Protection Act (COPA). See also http://news.com.com/FAQ+What+does+th...3-6029042.html and http://news.com.com/Judge+Google+mus...3-6051257.html.

4 The search providers' have so far been unreasonably tight-lipped about their specific practices regarding search logging. For some insight, see http://news.com.com/Verbatim+Search+...26.html?tag=nl and Home - San Jose Mercury News.

5 Or your MySpace profile, personal blog address, or other similar personal information.

6 Advanced tip: you could also use two profiles for one browser. For instance, if you run Mozilla Firefox with the -ProfileManager flag, it will let you choose a profile. To learn more, visit Firefox Support Home Page | Firefox Help. Mozilla Seamonkey has a "Switch Profile" command in the "Tools" menu. Pick a different theme/skin for each profile so you can tell which one you are using. To learn more, visit Profile Manager - MozillaZine Knowledge Base. With Internet Explorer, you may need to use two separate Windows user accounts.

7 Otherwise, your two separate browsers' activities could be linked by IP address, as discussed below.

8 Mail.google.com and google.com leave some additional cookies that will identify you while searching, but which CustomizeGoogle (and GoogleAnon) will not anonymize. Unless you remember to quit your browser, some of those cookies persist even if you logout of Gmail. Future versions of these privacy-protection tools may help fix this problem.

9 There is another Firefox plugin intended to protect your search privacy called TrackMeNot (TrackMeNot). At present, we cannot recommend TrackMeNot. For one thing, it may actually make it easier for search engines to link your searches together (the fact that you're using the plugin is distinctive). Moreover, although it may create some uncertainty about aspects of your search history, it does not hide personally identifying information or the bulk of your most sensitive searches. For further criticisms, see Schneier on Security: TrackMeNot.

10 The search engine may also be able to pick you out of the crowd based on an unusual browser, operating system, language setting, or other atypical HTTP headers. The software recommended in Tip 6 can be used to impede these methods as well.

11 So long as you haven't logged in; see Tip 3.

12 You can select "ask me every time" if you want more control, although the current Firefox user interface is not very good for this purpose. At this time, the Mozilla Seamonkey browser is more suitable if you wish to have fine-grained control over cookies.

13 You can find out your IP address by visiting a site like Your IP address is 174.34.56.200 - myIPinfo.net - What is my IP address info?. Ask your ISP if you have trouble determining whether your IP address changes.

14 For a technical discussion of this subject, see http://www.cl.cam.ac.uk/~sjm217/pape...and05torta.pdf.

https://www.eff.org/wp/six-tips-prot...search-privacy


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