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> Google is not free to use that data in gmail they have Wait, are you saying that if I write, "I love coffee" in Gmail, Google cannot use that to show me an a

by MarkMc 10y ago

> Google is not free to use that data in gmail they have Wait, are you saying that if I write, "I love coffee" in Gmail, Google cannot use that to show me an advertisement for Starbucks in YouTube?

eru 10y ago
I don't know, but I could probably find out. (But then I couldn't tell you.) Working for Google, I do know that we have intense scrutiny and strong internal regulations for what one can do with customer data---and especially so with data that's private like emails or your browsing history. From where I work in the company, the procedures and regulations are mostly concerned about <when not and when and perhaps how restricted> we can use customer data to reproduce and investigate bugs. The data Facebook can use is mostly semi-public: posts on your wall that have varying but generally weak privacy expectations in the first place. Friend lists are probably totally fair game. (I don't know what Google does with G+ circles, but nobody is using G+ anyway.) Anyway, all speculation apart from that there are pretty strong safeguards at Google. (Google and even Facebook or Amazon etc treat your information much more carefully than probably almost any other place you put them. Eg most banks have incredible weak password protections, and my ISP is probably selling my postal address to spammers left-and-right. The only reason to be afraid of what those giants do intentionally is that they are actually competent, and will do the best they can in the limits they imposed on them by themselves and regulators. (Break-ins by government-sponsored hackers are a different kettle of fish---but even there, the giants' efforts at fending them off are probably the most competent private sector responses.))
- MarkMc 10y ago
  > The only reason to be afraid of what those giants do intentionally is that they are actually competent, and will do the best they can in the limits they imposed on them by themselves and regulators. Actually as a Google shareholder I want the Gmail team to share customer data with the YouTube team. I doubt that Google's privacy policy prevents this, and it would certainly offer better targeting of ads and therefore more revenue. Is it considered evil for one branch of a company to share customer data with another branch? Wouldn't most users expect you to do that?

by MarkMc 10y ago

> Google is not free to use that data in gmail they have Wait, are you saying that if I write, "I love coffee" in Gmail, Google cannot use that to show me an advertisement for Starbucks in YouTube?

eru 10y ago

I don't know, but I could probably find out. (But then I couldn't tell you.) Working for Google, I do know that we have intense scrutiny and strong internal regulations for what one can do with customer data---and especially so with data that's private like emails or your browsing history. From where I work in the company, the procedures and regulations are mostly concerned about <when not and when and perhaps how restricted> we can use customer data to reproduce and investigate bugs. The data Facebook can use is mostly semi-public: posts on your wall that have varying but generally weak privacy expectations in the first place. Friend lists are probably totally fair game. (I don't know what Google does with G+ circles, but nobody is using G+ anyway.) Anyway, all speculation apart from that there are pretty strong safeguards at Google. (Google and even Facebook or Amazon etc treat your information much more carefully than probably almost any other place you put them. Eg most banks have incredible weak password protections, and my ISP is probably selling my postal address to spammers left-and-right. The only reason to be afraid of what those giants do intentionally is that they are actually competent, and will do the best they can in the limits they imposed on them by themselves and regulators. (Break-ins by government-sponsored hackers are a different kettle of fish---but even there, the giants' efforts at fending them off are probably the most competent private sector responses.))

MarkMc 10y ago
> The only reason to be afraid of what those giants do intentionally is that they are actually competent, and will do the best they can in the limits they imposed on them by themselves and regulators. Actually as a Google shareholder I want the Gmail team to share customer data with the YouTube team. I doubt that Google's privacy policy prevents this, and it would certainly offer better targeting of ads and therefore more revenue. Is it considered evil for one branch of a company to share customer data with another branch? Wouldn't most users expect you to do that?