PC World: Firefox Exec Rejects Google Privacy Stance, Pushes Users to Bing
PC World reports on the scandal over Google CEO Eric Schmidt’s recent comments about privacy.
Appearing on CNBC, Schmidt was asked whether or not users should inherently trust Google. Schmidt’s response was “If you have something that you don’t want anyone to know, maybe you shouldn’t be doing it in the first place. If you really need that kind of privacy, the reality is that search engines — including Google — do retain this information for some time and it’s important, for example, that we are all subject in the United States to the Patriot Act and it is possible that all that information could be made available to the authorities.”
Schmidt is certainly not the first person to use the “those who aren’t breaking the law have no need for privacy” defense, but coming from the CEO of Google — one of the top targets for privacy concerns — it was enough to cause [Mozilla director of community development, Asa Dotzler] to recommend that Firefox users abandon Google in favor of Microsoft’s Bing. [...]
Recommending a switch to Bing is a bold move for Mozilla, which is engaged in a multi-year arrangement with Google that extends through 2011. The majority of Mozilla revenue is derived from Google as a function of the deal, which calls for Mozilla to set Google as the default search engine in its Firefox Web browser software.
Microsoft is also a frequent target of privacy concerns, and Bing is just as capable as Google’s search engine of indexing and retaining more information than users are comfortable with. But, as Dotzler points out in his blog post “Bing does have a better privacy policy than Google.”
Search engines have substantial information about individuals. This data, even when it is claimed to be “anonymized,” can easily be traced back to individuals. The infamous AOL case proves this. In 2006, AOL “anonymized” (replaced personally identifiable information of users with ID numbers) and then published the search records of 658,000 Americans. It only took a few hours of research by New York Times reporters to match some user numbers with the correct individuals.
No. 4417749 conducted hundreds of searches over a three-month period on topics ranging from “numb fingers” to “60 single men” to “dog that urinates on everything.”
And search by search, click by click, the identity of AOL user No. 4417749 became easier to discern. There are queries for “landscapers in Lilburn, Ga,” several people with the last name Arnold and “homes sold in shadow lake subdivision gwinnett county georgia.”
It did not take much investigating to follow that data trail to Thelma Arnold, a 62-year-old widow who lives in Lilburn, Ga., frequently researches her friends’ medical ailments and loves her three dogs. “Those are my searches,” she said, after a reporter read part of the list to her.
You can learn more about the privacy problems that can arise from the supposed anonymization of data in a recent Ars Technica article, “‘Anonymized’ data really isn’t — and here’s why not.”
Unless the public is vigilant, I believe that we will fast approach a society where “innocent until proven guilty” is turned on its head. In order to prove their innocence, citizens will have to submit to being treated as criminals. After all, the argument runs, “If you have nothing to hide, then you have nothing to fear from government (or in this case, Google) surveillance and recording of every second of your life.” It is ridiculous to equate privacy and discretion with criminality. Just because I want to keep my personal e-mails or Web searches private doesn’t mean I’m conducting drug deals. It means that I don’t want people knowing about my medical conditions or other personal issues.
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December 14th, 2009 at 2:57 pm
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