Guide to Online Privacy
Posted by Celia Walter | 18 Feb, 2008MediaShift: Your Guide to Online Privacy
As we share more information online via myriad site registrations, online social networking profiles, e-commerce sites and search engines, the desire by companies and governments to mine that information is increasingly at odds with the desire of users to protect it. While online businesses can create their own privacy policies, average folks often can’t comprehend them — or opt out from data collection without leaving the site entirely. And government agencies and law enforcement increasingly are watching what people do online to fight crime and terrorism.
Luckily for frustrated web users, there are many ways to protect your privacy online, from deleting your computer’s cookies (identifying information about your computer and surfing trail) to using alternative web browsers, to opting out of a website’s ability to share your data.
Source: PBS (Mark Glaser)
Permalink Resourceshelf
Privacy and Internet Search Engines
Posted by Celia Walter | 1 Nov, 2007
What Google Knows: Privacy and Internet Search Engines
Source: Social Science Research Network (SSRN)
Source: Social Science Research Network (SSRN)
Search engines are the most important phenomenon on the Internet today and Google is the gold standard of search. Google evokes ambivalent feelings. It is adored for its ingenuity, simple, modest-looking interface and superb services offered at no (evident) cost. Yet increasingly, it is feared by privacy advocates who view it as a private sector big brother posing perhaps the biggest privacy problem of all times. Google is an informational gatekeeper harboring previously unimaginable riches of personal data. Billions of search queries stream across Google’s servers each month, the aggregate thoughtstream of humankind, online. Google compiles individual search logs, containing information about users’ fears and expectations, interests and passions, and ripe with information that is financial, medical, sexual, political, in short – personal in nature. How did Google evolve from being a benevolent giant seeking to do no evil into a privacy menace reviled by human rights advocates worldwide? Are the fears of Google’s omniscient presence justified or overstated? What personal data should Google be allowed to retain and for how long? What rules should govern access to Google’s database? What are the legal protections currently in place and are they sufficient to quell the emerging privacy crisis? These are the main issues addressed in this article.
Several options available for retrieval of full text (PDF; 491 KB)
Permalink Docuticker