Two weeks ago, New York Senator Charles E. Schumer petitioned the FTC to review Facebook and other social networks’ privacy policies to ensure they do not intend to mislead their users. Schumer’s initiation was the result of Facebook’s recent privacy changes. 

Read the NY Times article, Tell-All Generation Learns to Keep Things Offline.

“We Live in Public” is one of the most disturbing documentaries I have ever seen - and considering the strange nature of reality, that is saying a lot!

“We Live in Public” focuses on entrepreneur (and self-proclaimed artist) Josh Harris, a dot-com millionaire who founded one of the first interactive video websites when the internet was starting to take off. Following the popular success of his websites, Harris founded a project called “Quiet: We Live in Public,” where a number of citizens (with at least one as young as 11!) agreed to live in a controlled, Orwellian community called “Quiet” in which its residents surrendered all elements of their personal identity and privacy (wearing uniforms and being filmed in every aspect of their lives - eating, sleeping, having sex, defecating - on television channels that everyone else in the community had access to) in exchange for free food, drugs, and 15 minutes of fame.

Obviously, things got fucked up, and the documentary makes the extreme, but understandable comparison to our online lives on Facebook, Twitter, and blogs like this.

Anyway, this guy made me want to rip his face off, he’s pretty twisted. The movie is fascinating and pretty great, though! Psst — watch it for free on one of these links!

In response to my anti-Google mini exposé, a friend sent me this article from The Onion:

“‘We would like to extend our deepest apologies to each and every one of you,’ announced CEO Eric Schmidt, speaking from the company’s Googleplex headquarters. ‘Clearly there have been some privacy concerns as of late, and judging by some of the search terms we’ve seen, along with the tens of thousands of personal e-mail exchanges and Google Chat conversations we’ve carefully examined, it looks as though it might be a while before we regain your trust.’”

Ha.

You’ve likely heard of Google Buzz, which was added to all Gmail accounts last week without any user approval needed. I used to love Google - personally, I have my iGoogle page set up with my e-mail, local weather, horoscope, and other both useful and frivolous applications.

Bad news, though, Google is definitely “the man.”
Please consider the following:

* Google requires anyone who signs up for any of its services (Gmail, etc) to allow for IP address tracking and accepting “cookies.”

* Google collects and stores your personal information through Gmail, Google Earth, Google Calendar, and other applications. While primarily (publicly) used to generate targeted advertising, your privacy is likely already being violated.

* Google’s privacy policy lists the type of information it collects about its users, which includes but is not limited to: home addresses, credit card payment information, search history and data from Google-owned websites such as Youtube and Flickr, and even latitudinal data for users with connected mobile devices.

* The policy states that the company will not share its users’ personal information – except with affiliated third parties who agree to the same privacy policy, with government authorities seeking information, and to “protect against harm to the rights, property, or safety of Google, its users, or the public as required or permitted by law.”

* Google CEO Eric Schmidt addressed privacy by saying, “If you have something that you don’t want anyone to know, maybe you shouldn’t be doing it.” Schmidt continued this statement by addressing the Patriot Act, saying that information Google stores may be released to the U.S. Government.

So am I paranoid? Well, yeah, but I have reason to be. Consider the following evidence of Google’s power, privacy, and censoring issues:

* A Google search on “Electronic Frontier Foundation Google” returns 466,000 results; a Yahoo! search on the same terms returns 3,390,000 results. [The EFF is a non-profit organization focusing on digital rights.]

* A search directly abrasive to Google, such as “Google is evil” returns 65,000 results on Google and 153,000 results on Yahoo!

* Worst yet, performing a Google search on “alternatives to Gmail” yields 1,740,000 results, whereas performing a Yahoo! search on the same terms yields 6,680,000 results.

Studies show that increased Internet use leads to a more homogenized population – for example, blacks “look like” whites, college-educated people look like non-college-educated people, and age in general is more homogenous. A homogenized digital population decreases the demand for variety in content and mediums, putting a company like Google in the position of eventually being able to monopolize peoples’ online lives, which have become significantly prominent in peoples’ “real” lives.

While nothing is currently preventing Google from gathering and archiving your personal information, you are now able to “Turn Off Buzz” by scrolling to the very bottom of your inbox. It’s not much, but the option is there.

Just so you’re aware. Come get me, Google.