Light at the end of the storage

A positive sign from Google. They just posted in the company blog that they are not going to save our search history forever... well maybe... unless we ask... or unless the law changes and the big brother asks them... and in general they are going to store the search history forever, but they will blur the personally identifiable information after a couple of years.

I think this is good that the issue is now on the public agenda, though there are still unanswered questions (like why the identifiable information is stored in the first place, unless i asked for that? what is the nature of my relationship with google - am i selling the eyeballs for advertisers, or i am selling information about my behavior?). But it seems like a move in the right direction.

Any thoughts?

Documentary on Google

Thanks to Tarleton for this one.

It is a bit long (47 minutes), but i think it is interesting even though i did not form a strong opinion about it. If i had to provide a short synopsis of the movie then it would be that:

- watch the first 15 minutes to see what a cool and fun company Google is
- watch the next 15 minutes to see the great scope of google's activity worldwide
- keep on watching to the next 15 minutes to hear the difficult and interesting questions google's activity rises (my favorite part).

Particularly interesting are the words of Brewster Kahle, the founder and digital librarian for the Internet Archive, reacting to the "Hole in the wall" project usage of google. If you really have no time to watch the whole thing, just listen to this around minute 37:40.



Here us a link to the page on the original website. Ironically enough it is available through google video :)

More thoughts on Google

Here are more thoughts on Google somewhat challenging the Googalization picture i drew earlier.

Googalization

Yesterday I came to google.com in order to search for something, just to discover that they put an advertisement on their homepage. No worries, they are still sort of true to the concept of having a clean homepage and the advertisement was basically to the new google product. It has a small shopping chart and a link offering $10 if you sign up for the service.

I don't know if that offer is available only in the States or elsewhere, but that is a curios one. What they are offering this time is a limited pay-pal-stile service. You create an account (i bet you can use your existing google account too), store your credit card details there and use it to check out when you shop online. Convenient, isn't it? You don't have to give your credit card details again and again over the net. You just trust google taking good care of security and use this simple and friendly service.

You can do this (and more) today with pay-pal of course, but having everything under one username should be so convenient. You just log into your google account and you have all your news, mail, blog, docs, etc. and now even an option to pay your bills.

But wait a second... What does it mean for my privacy? How much more will google now know about me? Will it help me sleeping better at night? Will it make me a better citizen? Maybe a happier person?

Let see what it already knows if i am using a series of its personalized services:

• If i use google.maps it knows where i live and what the local businesses i am searching for.
• If i search google, especially with the google bar, it knows where i go online
• If i use google.news, it knows what i am interested in
  
• If i use its feeds, it knows whose opinions i am interested in
  
• If i use gmail, it knows what i am corresponding about
• If i use Blogger, it knows what i am writing about
• If i use google.docs, it knows what i am working on
• If i use google.desktop, it knows what is on my computer
• If i use google.finance, it knows where my money or my financial interests are
• If i use picasa, it knows what i and my family and friends look like
• and there is more to it...
  

Now i have the unique opportunity to allow google know what you are shopping for! Why not? Don't you trust google? They will not use your personal data, why would you worry? Google will only use the aggregative data, gathered through all the channels above and crossed, to make your searches more precise. It will ONLY help you making better decision. For it know what you REALLY want and are looking for.

So far is on the sarcastic note. Now the question is where is the line that we draw between getting convenience and jeopardizing our privacy? What google offers is indeed very convenient and is usually of a great quality. But to what extend we are ready to submit our lives to a commercial entity, counting on it helping us to improve our lives and not misusing it? Where is the border line? Is there one?

New Year's present from Google

Who could imagine i will receive a present from them... but yes, they moved my blog to the new blogger and now i will have to spend some time learning the new features. I am particularly happy about the labels, which are actually the reason why i am writing this post.

OK, now i am back to my paper :)