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Hey Joe pubilc. Give us all your personal info, we provide you pretty UI. Oh and how about this recommended cafe to visit with your friend? If you go here is

Hey Joe pubilc. Give us all your personal info, we provide you pretty UI. Oh and how about this recommended cafe to visit with your friend? If you go here is a 10% voucher.. Just saying..

prezjordan 14y ago
I feel like it should bother me, but it doesn't.
mtgx 14y ago
Isn't Foursquare based kind of on a similar idea? You tell people where you are to get something out of it. As long as it's completely optional, and the user understands what he's getting into, I don't see the problem with it.
tomp 14y ago
This is much less of a privacy issue for me than is when Google reads my email, for example. Here, I'm aware of the fact that my data (location, appointments, flight plans) is read, because I couldn't get the recommendations/information otherwise. So, it's much more of a consensual act. If they use this data for other purposes (ads/paid recommendations/geotracking), that is a separate issue, and I would be very mad.
- Artistry121 14y ago
  Google doesn't "read" your emails. The information completely secured from human eyes. A computer looks for words and phrases and tries to match ads to email content. Sometimes this is helpful, but the advertisers only receive anonymous data and no humans at Google or anywhere else read your data. Source: http://support.google.com/mail/bin/answer.py?hl=en&answer=6603 http://support.google.com/mail/bin/answer.py?hl=en&answe...
  - Karunamon 14y ago
    The information completely secured from human eyes That isn't entirely accurate. There has to be a way to access mailboxes for troubleshooting/compliance purposes - A couple years ago, a Google engineer got fired for snooping into some kid's mailbox. http://www.pcmag.com/article2/0,2817,2369188,00.asp http://www.pcmag.com/article2/0,2817,2369188,00.asp
  - hackinthebochs 14y ago
    >Google doesn't "read" your emails. For now. But what happens when data mining technology increases to the point where they can deduce real facts about you as a person from all this data they're collecting. I think this is what people mean when they say Google "reads" your email.
    - personlurking 14y ago
      "But what happens when data mining technology increases to the point where they can deduce real facts about you as a person from all this data they're collecting." Like that NYT article "How Companies Learn Your Secrets" on buying habits (at Target) of pregnant teens.
    - genwin 14y ago
      Insurance companies will one day pay Google to find your searches/emails on what ails you. Then you'll get an insurance rate increase.
  - cookiecaper 14y ago
    This still counts as "reading" your mails. Google analyzes my email and comes up with a categorization, stored somewhere on their servers, attached to my account, that says something like "Show this guy ads about computer stuff". If that information is subpoenaed, it will be revealed that computers, programming, and other technical things are among my most frequently discussed topics. By itself this information is innocuous, but in the right context and with just a pinch of the heartlessness of a giant computer system, the wrong set of categorizations could cause a really big problem.
    - Artistry121 14y ago
      I see your point, cookiecaper. However there are really three usage cases where I see this potentially becoming a problem: 1. Google sells data to advertisers directly, without anonymity. 2. Google is rendered insecure and the encryption they use is cracked. 3. Government forces Google to hand over data about individuals or large swaths of individuals. The most likely scenario is number three, which already happens, and this can happen to any information stored anywhere (bank accounts, post office and online). Google would face strong public backlash for selling data to advertisers (#1)directly and would have to change their user policies. Google spends untold amount of money on #2. That's not to say they are completely safe or trustworthy, but it is to say they work very hard at protecting that data (for your and their sake). This situation could just as likely happen to any web provider, linkedin being a recent example. My biggest fear is what happens if the government gets the power to subpoena individuals based on "categorizations" or "keywords". Then I think privacy becomes a serious issue for Google.
dandrews 14y ago
Yes, the number of application cards that require geolocation is vaguely disturbing. You think Google's in your pants now? Just wait until you routinely enable geolocation on your mobile device. (Of course, I'm likely tilting at windmills. The carriers have been accumulating triangulation data for a long time. http://www.zeit.de/datenschutz/malte-spitz-data-retention http://www.zeit.de/datenschutz/malte-spitz-data-retention )
haldean 14y ago
This attitude annoys me. Everything you do is about tradeoffs, and being online is no exception. You're trading privacy for convenience, and if you don't want to, then don't. People aren't wrong for being okay with that trade; they just have different priorities than you.
- sp332 14y ago
  Google is wrong because they don't really tell users what the tradeoffs are.

Hey Joe pubilc. Give us all your personal info, we provide you pretty UI. Oh and how about this recommended cafe to visit with your friend? If you go here is a 10% voucher.. Just saying..

prezjordan 14y ago

I feel like it should bother me, but it doesn't.

mtgx 14y ago

Isn't Foursquare based kind of on a similar idea? You tell people where you are to get something out of it. As long as it's completely optional, and the user understands what he's getting into, I don't see the problem with it.

tomp 14y ago

This is much less of a privacy issue for me than is when Google reads my email, for example. Here, I'm aware of the fact that my data (location, appointments, flight plans) is read, because I couldn't get the recommendations/information otherwise. So, it's much more of a consensual act. If they use this data for other purposes (ads/paid recommendations/geotracking), that is a separate issue, and I would be very mad.

Artistry121 14y ago
Google doesn't "read" your emails. The information completely secured from human eyes. A computer looks for words and phrases and tries to match ads to email content. Sometimes this is helpful, but the advertisers only receive anonymous data and no humans at Google or anywhere else read your data. Source: http://support.google.com/mail/bin/answer.py?hl=en&answer=6603 http://support.google.com/mail/bin/answer.py?hl=en&answe...
- Karunamon 14y ago
  The information completely secured from human eyes That isn't entirely accurate. There has to be a way to access mailboxes for troubleshooting/compliance purposes - A couple years ago, a Google engineer got fired for snooping into some kid's mailbox. http://www.pcmag.com/article2/0,2817,2369188,00.asp http://www.pcmag.com/article2/0,2817,2369188,00.asp
- hackinthebochs 14y ago
  >Google doesn't "read" your emails. For now. But what happens when data mining technology increases to the point where they can deduce real facts about you as a person from all this data they're collecting. I think this is what people mean when they say Google "reads" your email.
  - personlurking 14y ago
    "But what happens when data mining technology increases to the point where they can deduce real facts about you as a person from all this data they're collecting." Like that NYT article "How Companies Learn Your Secrets" on buying habits (at Target) of pregnant teens.
  - genwin 14y ago
    Insurance companies will one day pay Google to find your searches/emails on what ails you. Then you'll get an insurance rate increase.
- cookiecaper 14y ago
  This still counts as "reading" your mails. Google analyzes my email and comes up with a categorization, stored somewhere on their servers, attached to my account, that says something like "Show this guy ads about computer stuff". If that information is subpoenaed, it will be revealed that computers, programming, and other technical things are among my most frequently discussed topics. By itself this information is innocuous, but in the right context and with just a pinch of the heartlessness of a giant computer system, the wrong set of categorizations could cause a really big problem.
  - Artistry121 14y ago
    I see your point, cookiecaper. However there are really three usage cases where I see this potentially becoming a problem: 1. Google sells data to advertisers directly, without anonymity. 2. Google is rendered insecure and the encryption they use is cracked. 3. Government forces Google to hand over data about individuals or large swaths of individuals. The most likely scenario is number three, which already happens, and this can happen to any information stored anywhere (bank accounts, post office and online). Google would face strong public backlash for selling data to advertisers (#1)directly and would have to change their user policies. Google spends untold amount of money on #2. That's not to say they are completely safe or trustworthy, but it is to say they work very hard at protecting that data (for your and their sake). This situation could just as likely happen to any web provider, linkedin being a recent example. My biggest fear is what happens if the government gets the power to subpoena individuals based on "categorizations" or "keywords". Then I think privacy becomes a serious issue for Google.

dandrews 14y ago

Yes, the number of application cards that require geolocation is vaguely disturbing. You think Google's in your pants now? Just wait until you routinely enable geolocation on your mobile device. (Of course, I'm likely tilting at windmills. The carriers have been accumulating triangulation data for a long time. http://www.zeit.de/datenschutz/malte-spitz-data-retention http://www.zeit.de/datenschutz/malte-spitz-data-retention )

haldean 14y ago

This attitude annoys me. Everything you do is about tradeoffs, and being online is no exception. You're trading privacy for convenience, and if you don't want to, then don't. People aren't wrong for being okay with that trade; they just have different priorities than you.

sp332 14y ago
Google is wrong because they don't really tell users what the tradeoffs are.