[IP] Guardian Observer (London) on Google Privacy Issues

Sat Oct 1 18:28:29 PDT 2005

http://observer.guardian.co.uk/business/story/0,6903,1582719,00.html

Our internet secrets stored for decades

Privacy groups want the law changed to stop Google using, or
divulging to outside agencies, the vast amount of personal data it
has access to. By Conal Walsh

Sunday October 2, 2005
The Observer

Google took a further step away from its folksy image when it hired
its first professional lobbyist in Washington earlier this year. But
it turned out to be a timely move. The world's biggest search engine
has been under attack on many fronts in 2005 - and its activities
have spawned a cottage industry of Google critics, who complain above
all that the company's dramatic rise to prominence is a threat to our
privacy.
Much protest focuses on the company's use of 'cookies' - pieces of
programming code - which Google plants on your computer's hard drive
when you use its service.
The cookies enable Google to keep a record of your web-searching
history. They don't expire until 2038, meaning that potentially
sensitive information on your interests and peccadilloes could be
stored for upwards of 30 years. It is sobering to think what
fraudsters, identity thieves, blackmailers or government snoopers
could do with this information if they got access to it.
Privacy groups are up in arms. 'We need to re-evaluate the role of
big search engines, email portals, and all the rest of it,' says
Daniel Brandt, of the website Google Watch.
'They all track everything. Google was the first to do it, arrogantly
and without any apologies; now everyone assumes that if Google does
it, they can do it too.'
Lauren Weinstein, founder of the US-based People for Internet
Responsibility, says out-of-date privacy laws fail to capture the
information-gathering powers of youthful but powerful new media
companies.
'The relevant laws are generally so weak - if they exist at all -
that it's difficult to file complaints when you can't find out what
data they're keeping and how they are using it,' says Weinstein.
Google says these fears are unfounded, that it respects privacy and
keeps strictly within relevant privacy laws. Personal data are logged
on computer files but 'no humans' access it, says the company;
safeguards are in place to prevent employees from examining traffic
data without special permission from senior managers. Nor is personal
information shared with outsiders. All Google's records are
impenetrable to hackers.
Besides, say Google devotees, open access and the empowerment of the
individual are central to the whole philosophy of the company; it
would never seek to misuse or betray its users' secrets.
Life, though, can be complicated. In repressive countries such as
China, Google and other portals have little choice but to accommodate
the authorities, which regularly censor the internet and spy on users.
In the US, Google has declined to say how often it responds to
requests for information from America's intelligence and law
enforcement agencies. And there are concerns that what Google is
building with its data-retention operation is a vast marketing
database, which one day could be exploited ruthlessly.
Simmering discontent turned into open confrontation earlier this year
when Google launched Gmail, a free email service designed to compete
with Yahoo and Microsoft's Hotmail.
To ordinary punters, the great advantage of Gmail was the enormous
two gigabytes of storage space it offered, enabling users to keep all
their old messages. But Google planned to make the service pay by
scanning customers' emails for keywords in order to send them
targeted advertisements - a flagrant breach of privacy, according to
opponents.
The Consumer Federation of America demanded that Google rethink the
scheme, while California politician Liz Figueroa called for changes
in the law to protect users' 'most intimate and private email
thoughts'. The London-based campaigners Privacy International filed
complaints with data protection agencies in several countries,
including Britain.
The UK Information Commissioner took no action after consulting with
Google, but campaigners argue that government bodies operating with a
small staff and obsolete laws are no match for a technology
superpower like Google, which is expanding at an almost exponential
rate and continues to innovate in its use of personal data.
In claims denied by Google, Privacy International's Simon Davies
asserts that there is 'an absence of contractual commitment to the
security of data' and 'fundamental problems in achieving lawful
customer consent'.
For now, campaigners may have to console themselves with a story of
the biter bit. Google's chief executive, Eric Schmidt, was reportedly
enraged this month when an online newspaper published his address and
other personal details - having found them on Google.

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