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Google Privacy Director Alma Whitten Leaving

Posted by Unknown on from the do-no-evil dept.

Gunkerty Jeb writes "Alma Whitten, the director of privacy at Google, is stepping down from that role and leaves behind her a complicated legacy in regards to user privacy. ... Whitten has been at Google for about 10 years, and while she has been the main public face of the company's product privacy efforts in the last couple of years, she has been involved in engineering privacy initiatives for even longer. Before becoming the privacy lead for products and engineering in 2010 in the aftermath of the Google Street View WiFi controversy, Whitten had been in charge of privacy for the company's engineering teams. During that time, she was involved in the company's public effort to fight the idea that IP addresses can be considered personally identifiable information."

9 of 73 comments (clear)

  1. Google + Privacy? by peppepz · · Score: 2, Insightful

    When we talk about the company's "privacy efforts", we're talking about them fighting privacy?

    1. Re:Google + Privacy? by Spy+Handler · · Score: 2

      Tobacco companies have a Health director, so Google having a Privacy Director shouldn't seem so strange...

    2. Re:Google + Privacy? by Gaygirlie · · Score: 2

      There's no such thing as "utilized from anywhere in the world".

      Tor, botnets, proxies, VPN et.al. would like to disagree with you.

    3. Re:Google + Privacy? by JWSmythe · · Score: 3, Insightful

          No, just like a street address, it does not identify you. It does lead straight to your home though. One requires someone to drive to your house. The other requires a LEO call to the ISP to ask for the address to drive to your house.

          It doesn't identify *you*. Just like you can have your mail delivered to a friend, neighbor or PO box, *you* are linked to it. It still leads back to you, no matter how many layers of distractions are involved.

        Your IP or mailing address cannot be used to prosecute. They can be used to point investigators towards who to prosecute.

      --
      Serious? Seriousness is well above my pay grade.
    4. Re:Google + Privacy? by Opportunist · · Score: 2

      Same with street addresses. I'd have to start digging in the court files, but I distinctly remember a case where someone was charged with drug manufacturing and was acquitted because the only thing they could field against him was that chemicals for manufacturing were delivered to his address but they couldn't prove that it was actually him ordering or receiving the items in question.

      It's fairly trivial to "abuse" someone else's address. All you have to do is intercept the delivery guy and tell him that you're you, but your ID is upstairs and if he waits here you'll go and get it. Given their rather tight schedule, they'd gladly simply accept that you're the authorized recipient... hell, as long as you scribble something on their ledger they're happy. You don't even want to know where I had to retrieve my UPS packs from...

      --
      We used to have a Bill of Rights. Now, with the rights gone, all we have left is the bill.
  2. What's an Oxymoron? by Taantric · · Score: 2

    Kids, this is what an oxymoron is - "The Director of Privacy for Google". Another example - "Military Intelligence"

  3. Panopticlick / Google can track you quite well. by girlinatrainingbra · · Score: 4, Insightful
    Re: Whitten had been in charge of privacy for the company's engineering teams. During that time, she was involved in the company's public effort to fight the idea that IP addresses can be considered personally identifiable information

    Well, on the one hand, the idea that IP addresses are not personally identifiable information is of benefit to the masses when arguing against RIAA/MPAA attacks saying "this IP address downloaded XYZ, thus the current user of said IP address is responsible", because an IP address is not a personal identifier.
    .
    On the other hand, google can then say that they keep track of IP addresses and other information which combine to become personally identifying information.
    .
    See the EFF's site Panopticlick to see the huge amount of identifiable information your web-browsing leaves behind, especially if you have javascript enabled. If google argues that your IP addy isn't personally identifiable info, then they can't get in any trouble for keeping track of it, even though in combination with your "user agent string" and the leaked browser information, they certainly can keep track of you.

  4. Surely it's not still April 1st somewhere? by tehcyder · · Score: 3, Insightful

    "Director of privacy at Google" is the only funny April Fool's joke on slashdot this year.

    --
    To have a right to do a thing is not at all the same as to be right in doing it
  5. Re:easiest job ever by Opportunist · · Score: 3, Funny

    Not really. It's one of the things where it's probably better to be the one who is behind.

    --
    We used to have a Bill of Rights. Now, with the rights gone, all we have left is the bill.