Google sees more searches than Bing and Yahoo combined
(Fleischner, 2013).
Gmail is the most popular email provider, with 900
million users around the world (Guynn, 2015).
Google Analytics is by far the most popular web
analytics tool (Sparks, 2014).
Google-owned YouTube has more than 1 billion users,
nearly one-third of all people on the Internet (YouTube Statistics, n.d.).
Don’t forget about Google Glass, Google Earth, Google
Maps, Google+ and so, so much more.
Google is a powerhouse. The company has become so much
a part of our lives, that we’ve turned its name into a verb – “Let me Google
that.”
In 2009, a CNBC reporter spoke with then-Google CEO
Eric Schmidt about privacy. “People are treating Google like their most trusted
friend,” she said. “Should they?”
His response: “If you have something that you don’t
want anyone to know, maybe you shouldn’t be doing it in the first place.”
The video made eyebrows rise. Is Google spying on its
customers? Schmidt went on to explain that Google, along with other search
engines, does retain information and could be handed over to authorities,
citing the Patriot Act (Google CEO, 2010).
So the company did admittedly store users’ data in
2009, but as the internet, technology, and marketing have evolved, so have
Google’s practices with what it does with users’ data.
Sometimes, this is data that users’ didn’t give the
company permission to access – or didn’t
realize they were giving Google permission to access.
For example, in
2013, Google admitted it violated people’s privacy. Its Google Street View cars
were deployed to take photos for the mapping project, a tool many of us have used.
However, the cars weren’t just taking pictures as they cruised by. They were
also collecting data – emails, medical records, passwords – as they drove by
houses. Google blamed the data collection on “a rogue engineer” and said they
did not know this data was being collected (Streitfeld, 2013).
Google also has been
under fire for its handling of email content. In 2010, a lawsuit was filed by
Gmail users who claimed they weren’t properly notified that Google would be
intercepting their emails and scanning them, in order to provide more targeted
ads. Google argued that users agreed to this scanning when they signed up for
Gmail accounts (Davis, 2014). However, this does not address the concerns that
those who were not Gmail users did not agree to allow Google to scan their
emails sent to Gmail addresses. The company has since altered its privacy
policy (Rosenfeld, 2014).
While these specific
examples show that Google did invade internet users’ privacy, is the company
really an Orwellian big brother seeking world domination? Or is it an industry
giant trying its best to understand internet users, in an effort to provide
them with the best tools and applications available?
Maybe it’s a little of
both.
Google’s privacy page
gives its users information on what data Google collects, what it does with the
data, and how that information is kept safe on privacy.google.com.
The page explains the
importance of location services that can be helpful when a user searches “coffee,”
for example, and Google can show the user nearby coffee shops (1). It also
explains how Google uses targeted ads, based on search history, YouTube video
views, and inbox messages. So if a user is getting a lot of emails about coffee
makers, the user might see ads from Keurig (2).
The page states that “The
process by which ads are shown in Gmail is fully automated. Nobody reads your emails
in order to show you ads” (2). According to Google, these more relevant ads are
necessary for the company to be able to provide so many services to its
customers for free (1).
It is true that Google
greatly depends on ad revenue. It made up $16 billion of the company’s $17.7 billion
in revenue, according to a quarterly earnings report (Peterson, 2015).
While the company isn’t
having any trouble making money through its ads, with its ad revenue steadily increasing
since 2011, Google said it must continue to adapt to Internet users’ changing
habits. More and more people are browsing the internet via smartphone, which
could mean they are on the go and can buy from a brick-and-mortar store. If
they do make a purchase with their smartphone, the order size is typically
smaller than one made on a desktop (Peterson, 2015). So the company has to be
creative in order to convince marketers to buy mobile ads. The company has to
be able to get the right ads to the right people, and that is what has led them
to targeted ads through searches, video views and email messages.
Because so many of us use
multiple Google services, the company can combine data to create a profile for
its users. While this means more relevant ads, Google says this also means a
better experience for its users. For example, Google intelligent personal
assistant Google Now can “predict” what its users want to know before they even
realize it. It can do things like track flight prices, remind users to register
to vote, and can display localized search results relevant to hotel
reservations made via Gmail (3).
Is this amazing or scary?
My opinion is that it’s somewhere in the middle of the two. Because in order
for all of these things to work, Google has to put “all of your information
inside Google’s gigantic server farms.” So while there isn’t a cost to these
things up front, you are giving up the control on your data and your privacy
(Malik, 2015).
Although Google users
haven’t been victim to any huge breeches of information, a leak of Gmail 5
million passwords in 2014 did alarm some users. Google responded by saying that
most of those passwords weren’t even
correct – only 2% even might have
worked – and its “automated anti-hijacking systems” would have caught most of
the attempted logins (Hill, 2014).
On Google’s privacy page,
it lists ways it keeps users’ information safe, with encryption, Chrome safe
browsing, Gmail spam protection, and notifications to users when something
doesn’t seem right (1).
But just as Google
continues to evolve, so do those looking to compromise internet users’ valuable
information. While Google seemingly does all in its power to keep this
information safe, there is no certainty that it couldn’t be compromised, as has
happened with Home Depot, Target, eBay and many other companies. Or even a
Google employee, as was the case with the Street View cars, could get ahold of
this type of information.
So while I do not think
Google has world domination on its to-do list, it is getting a little sci-fi
with its ability to be so involved with our lives. But it would be nearly
impossible to abandon all uses of Google and its partner sites – and if you don’t
use those, you’ll likely be giving your information to another site. So my thought
is, if you can’t beat ’em, join ’em. And enjoy your targeted ads and custom
search results while you’re at it.
References:
Davis, W. (2014, May 28).
Google settles portion of lawsuit about Gmail ads. Retrieved online from http://www.mediapost.com/publications/article/226815/google-settles-portion-of-lawsuit-about-gmail-ads.html.
Fleischner, M. (2013). SEO made simple: Strategies for
dominating the world’s largest search engine.
Google CEO on privacy (VIDEO): ‘if you have something
you don’t want anyone to know, maybe you shouldn’t be doing it.’(2010, March
18). Retrieved online from http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2009/12/07/google-ceo-on-privacy-if_n_383105.html.
Guynn, J. (2015, May 28). Google’s Gmail hits 900 million
users, opens up Inbox. Retrieved online from http://www.usatoday.com/story/tech/2015/05/28/google-inbox-gmail-900-million-users/28016983/.
Hill, K. (2014, Sept. 11). Google says not to worry
about 5 million ‘Gmail passwords’ leaked. Retrieved online from http://www.forbes.com/sites/kashmirhill/2014/09/11/google-says-not-to-worry-about-5-million-gmail-passwords-leaked/.
Malik, O. (2015, June 15). Apple versus Google.
Retrieved online from http://www.newyorker.com/business/currency/apple-versus-google.
Peterson, T. (2015, July 16). Google ad revenue climbs;
once again blames YouTube for ad-price declines. Retrieved online fromhttp://adage.com/article/digital/google-q2-earnings/299520/.
Rosenfeld, S. (2014, Feb. 5). 4 ways Google is
destroying privacy and collecting your data. Retrieved online from http://www.salon.com/2014/02/05/4_ways_google_is_destroying_privacy_and_collecting_your_data_partner/.
Sparks, C. (2014, March 11). 10 great social and web
analytics tools. Retrieved online from http://www.searchenginejournal.com/10-great-social-web-analytics-tools/90629/.
Streitfeld, D. (2013, March 12). Google concedes that
drive-by prying violated privacy. Retrieved online from http://www.nytimes.com/2013/03/13/technology/google-pays-fine-over-street-view-privacy-breach.html?pagewanted=1&_r=0.
YouTube Statistics (n.d.). Retrieved online from https://www.youtube.com/yt/press/statistics.html.
1. https://privacy.google.com/how-we-use-data.html
3. http://www.androidcentral.com/google-now
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