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Privacy Group Gives Google Lowest Possible Grade

Posted by Zonk on from the eff-triple-minus dept.

The Washington Post is reporting on a finding by London-based group Privacy International. In a new report, they find that Google has some of the worst privacy-protection practices anywhere on the web, giving them the lowest possible grade. "While a number of other Internet companies have troubling policies, none comes as close to Google to 'achieving status as an endemic threat to privacy,' Privacy International said in an explanation of its findings. In a statement from one of its lawyers, Google said it aggressively protects its users' privacy and stands behind its track record. In its most conspicuous defense of user privacy, Google last year successfully fought a U.S. Justice Department subpoena demanding to review millions of search requests."

13 of 260 comments (clear)

  1. Links for nerds on stories that matter by echucker · · Score: 5, Informative
    The Privacy International article - The Privacy International article

    Their report (interim rankings only)

    Final rankings won't be available until September. Wonder what they'll be dicking around for three months for....

    1. Re:Links for nerds on stories that matter by Bender0x7D1 · · Score: 5, Informative

      Actually, if you look at the preliminary report, they seem to have done a pretty good job. For example, Google does not consider IP address as personal information. This is OK if you are conneccting from a local coffee shop, but sucks if you have a static IP, or even do DHCP over a small range of addresses. It also points out that they don't always consider privacy implications before releasing information such as Street-level view. With the amount of data that Google gathers, analyzes, utilizes and releases (both publicly and its corporate partners), these kind of actions are a bit disturbing.

      I'm not trying to say this report is perfect, or that there is enough information provided to evaluate it independently. However, seeing a conspiracy targeted at Google because a group got upset about some of their practices, and decided to do a study (which included a lot more companies than just Google), is a bit premature.

      --
      Reading code is like reading the dictionary - you have to read half of it before you can go back and understand it.
    2. Re:Links for nerds on stories that matter by Macthorpe · · Score: 5, Informative

      Google seem to be taking it seriously enough to accuse Privacy International of being in bed with Microsoft, which is a laughable accusation.

      Privacy International responded via an open letter here.

      --
      "It does not do to leave a live dragon out of your calculations, if you live near him." - Tolkien
    3. Re:Links for nerds on stories that matter by The+Famous+Brett+Wat · · Score: 5, Interesting

      Google does not consider IP address as personal information.

      And yet Gmail is the only public webmail service I know that does not include the IP address of the browser (HTTP client) in the mail header fields.

      --
      proof, n. A demonstration that a conclusion is implied by certain premises and axioms.
  2. A suggestion... by 313373_bot · · Score: 5, Insightful

    Google last year successfully fought a U.S. Justice Department subpoena demanding to review millions of search requests. Very nice, but how long until either Google loses some legal fight, or it simply decides not to fight?

    One solution to the privacy problem, in my oppinion, would be granting users, besides the ability of not surrendering more information than necessary for a given transaction, some effective way of deleting their personal data once done with Google, Yahoo, Amazon or whoever else.
    --
    ^[:q!
    1. Re:A suggestion... by TheGreatHegemon · · Score: 5, Insightful

      Very nice, but how long until either Google loses some legal fight, or it simply decides not to fight? If Google loses the legal fight to defend their data from government violations, then you should be looking at your government, not Google for the privacy violation.
  3. Pot calls kettle black. by mooreBS · · Score: 5, Insightful

    Why are these people attacking Google. Privacy and anonymity are rapidly eroding in the UK. Hello! You've got bigger privacy problems than Google if you're living there.

    1. Re:Pot calls kettle black. by Stormx2 · · Score: 5, Insightful

      The whole "UK is a big brother society" thing is overdone. 99% of cameras are just local shops looking out for their business. Remember that the UK is densely populated and natural selection has ground the a halt; council estates breed criminals. Sure, there are a lot of cameras, but it isn't some government conspiracy that people make it out to be.

    2. Re:Pot calls kettle black. by bky1701 · · Score: 5, Insightful

      The whole "Google is big brother" thing is overdone. 99% of logging is just statistical. Remember that google is mainly an ad firm and they rely on statistics to do their job. Sure, there are a lot of logging, but it isn't some conspiracy that people make it out to be.

      --
      Great Intellect...
    3. Re:Pot calls kettle black. by k1e0x · · Score: 5, Informative

      No its not a government conspiracy, they really ARE watching you. The average brit is photographed 200 to 400 times per day.

      Hea, waat the hell, why not just pull random people over for.. no reason at all.. and take fingerprints. http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/uk/6170070.stm Alread on it in the UK, the worlds leading police state.

      Sound Orweallian..? guess what, it *looks* that way too. Check out the "it's for your 'safty'" ads. http://www.infowars.net/articles/april2006/170406w atching.htm

      --
      Bringing liberty to the masses. - http://freetalklive.com/
  4. The Future of Google: Total Surveillance by skrew · · Score: 5, Interesting

    The problem is they keep all your search results, with tracking cookie. Google is in bed with the CIA: http://www.disgrunt.com/blog/2006/10/27/former-int elligence-agent-says-google-in-bed-with-cia/ Have any of you guys seen the new gmail? I won't use it...it has a built in calendar, word processor, and of course, permanent email storage, converge this with permanent tracking cookies, logs of all search requests from your IP, and of course google earth/maps (will go live eventually as the technology changes) and you have the recipie for total uncontrolled surveillance.

    --
    Learn to know, the dark side of the force, and you will achieve a power greater than any Jedi...the power to save your w
    1. Re:The Future of Google: Total Surveillance by Deekin_Scalesinger · · Score: 5, Insightful

      Why mod this down? I rarely put on the tinfoil hat, but they can have an awful lot of data for people who choose to use many/all of their services. It is an aggregate of many people's lives. Not saying that they are doing it, but the guy deserves more than a -1 for his thoughts.

      --
      "As the intrepid kobold companion continues his journey, he begins to wonder... if priests raises dead, why anybody die?
  5. Re:For the Tin Foil Hat Brigade (myself included) by UbuntuDupe · · Score: 5, Funny

    Yeah, I'm the same way. When I have girls over at my place, *all* they have to do is ask about the "no sound/video recording" option, and I won't keep their data. They just never request that feature.

    --
    Apology to Ubuntu forum.