Given
our recent class discussions about the idea of digital sharecropping, I feel
the need to discuss Google’s recent changes to its terms of service. Most
people do not bother to read this, something we are all well aware of at this
point, so thankfully the people who do care enough to do so have reported what
we need to know in a simple digestible fashion. One of the, now numerous, technology
websites discussing this issue, ArsTechnica, has reported that Google plans to
use your name and photo in its ads in the future. Yes, you heard that right.
Your name and face will now be used to further enrich Google by showing
strangers your likeness alongside its ads on the Internet (or at least it will be
if you happen to be over the age of 18)
This
service is being called “shared endorsements” by Google and it will show you
alongside ads for anything you have rated, reviewed, or gave a +1 to. For those
of you who are unaware, a +1 is the Google Plus social network equivalent of a
Facebook like. The service is only supposed to show this to people who can see your
review in the first place. Unfortunately, like most places, the settings
default to public. It is possible to opt out of this service, but the page is
not currently linked to from any existing settings page or privacy policy page.
ArsTechnica speculated that this may be due to the service not yet going
online, but that remains to be seen. For anyone interested, here is a link you
can use to opt out of this service. https://plus.google.com/settings/endorsements
Personally,
I am rather upset with this move. I really doubt that showing our names, faces,
and reviews alongside ads will further convince us to click those ads in the
first place. If anything, I would be further discouraged. Facebook has been
sued numerous times by users for its privacy violations, so a lawsuit against
Google is likely to go forward when this system eventually comes online. Even
then, why bother doing this? People are annoyed enough that our information is
being used to serve us ads. Sure, Google provides us free services in exchange,
but there are limits to what a person is willing to accept.
In
response to this news going out, most responses have been negative. Some people
are even suggesting that we should use a photo of Eric Schmidt, Google’s
chairman, as our profile photo in protest. I doubt that such measures will be
useful, but the fact that people are doing more than merely rant is a bit of a
surprise. Now we just have to see how long said action lasts for. Most people
do not even use Google Plus so the impact of it seeing our +1’s or reviews is
much more minimal than previously thought.
Morally
speaking, this action seems wrong. We are being taken advantage of to further
enrich a company that already scans even our email for personal data without us
being paid for it. From a business and legal standpoint, however, it only makes
sense. I personally would not have used people’s photos and limited it to only
friends seeing things, but legally there is nothing wrong with Google’s
decision to do this. We can opt out at any time, volunteer our +1’s and reviews
for free in the first place, and agree to use Google’s services knowing ahead
of time that this is being done. Alternatives do exist: Microsoft Hotmail for
email, DuckDuckGo for search, Yahoo groups for interaction, and Facebook for
social networking are perfectly viable products that many people still use. In
the end, it’s your decision to act or not after being told this information.
Nick, I think that this is akin to our discussion on insurances rates with respect ot self-driving cars. Sure, there are alternatives, but when Google, for many, is a unifying factor for all of their devices and services, and is the premier search engine, they kind of force the users' hands in adopting this. Of course, we can opt out, but we, as users, should not have to have our hands forced, so to speak.
ReplyDeleteAlso, nobody used Google+ anyway, so perhaps it isn't the worst development i the world.