Can Google be trusted with your -- or your firm's -- private data? That question has popped up more than once over the last few days.
First, smiles over Google's announcement of its long-awaited Google Drive service last week turned to frowns of concern when "scary licensing terms" raised questions Internet-wide.
[It] looks like I'm giving up privacy rights on anything I store on GoogleDrive when I agree to allow them to "communicate, publish... and distribute such content" forever... [Also, with] Google, I worry about aggregation of my data, because so much of my electronic life passes through Google. If Google reserves the right to look at and make "derivative works" of anything sent to me via gmail, conversations on googleVoice, Google+, and my YouTube videos, that's a whole lot of my electronic life.
Google was quick to reassure users, and subsequent
press coverage seemed to lay the fears to rest. Still, nagging doubts persist. "Despite the assurances of providers that legal jargon exists only to facilitate data transfer, the fact is that they still gain some right to the data, even if that right is never exercised," wrote blogger Doug Bonderud. And he counsels IT to keep an eye on what employees are posting to services like Google Drive.
Then came news today about an FCC report that said, contrary to past information, Google personnel involved with Street View knew a part-time engineer was slurping up private information from WiFi users via Street View for a couple of years before 2010.
As ever, Google denies wrongdoing. "We agree with the FCC's conclusion that we did not break the law. We hope that we can now put this matter behind us," a spokeswoman told the Los Angeles Times.
There's something else: As a final statement of disapproval, the FCC has fined Google $25,000 for a poor response to its investigation of this matter. "For many months, Google deliberately impeded and delayed the Bureau's investigation by failing to respond to requests for material information and to provide certifications and verifications of its responses," the FCC report said.
Google says it will file a formal response to the FCC within 30 days. Predictably, the press is getting the word that the company disagrees with the lack-of-cooperation accusation.
Can enterprise users put any lingering fears about Google's control over sensitive corporate data behind them? Can individual users do the same regarding personal information? The answer may depend on what users or businesses are posting to Google Drive or other Google locations. If there is enough sensitive data involved, precautions should be taken to ensure it's marshaled and protected. Naturally, that goes for the use of any other online service.
At the same time, enterprises and consumers alike must start to voice their concerns more emphatically to Google. The record continues to show that raising the bar is the only way we can get Google to get the idea that private and/or sensitive information does not belong to Google forever to use however it chooses.
Thanks for the link, Mary. It does seem as though Google is keeping the US and Canadian privacy regulatory bodies mostly appeased over here. In Europe that is a different story, with Google regularly making changes to its privacy policies.
Good point about Google's political ties, Nathan. I know those ties have been pretty extensive and serious.
Just happened to see this in Canada's Globe and Mail that notes the relationship between privacy and antitrust. Google is under lots of pressure here and it's all due to the privacy issues.
That's a head scratcher, Waqas. My uploading files containing third party content is not going to confer rights to Google, whatever Google says. I agree that users who have no proprietary content are going to be less concerned than me.
I'm sure that's something Google might be thinking about. But it would make things even more confusing to have multiple service terms out there floating around for the various Google services
In line with what we're all discussing here, I just signed in to my Google "uberaccount" and the following message popped up:
Add Your Mobile Phone to Your Accoutn
Without a phone number, you could lose all access to your account if you forget your password or if your account is hijacked. Learn more about why this is so important
Another instance of Google's aggressive data collection strategy? "Do this or you'll be sorry"?
Wow. Great take from Wired. I do hope there is a Googlegate, and that it's not all just shoved under the rug out of public indifference. Sooner or later, we are going to have to deal with Google's privacy "issues," and we'll also have to face the FCC's ineffective response.
What a great image of Google luring us with free goodies. I agree that the linkage among Google services is truly a concern. Eventually, the profiles built up by Google could be held for a kind of ransom, unless the brakes are put on Google's ability to do so. Just my opinion.
Very interesting speculation, WaqasAltaf. It is definitely worth investigating and/or watching whether Google chooses to force users to pay for privacy.
Yes, Google seems to be hedging its bets on being able to use the data it's gathered for marketing purposes. I'm not saying they'd attach the data to specific people, but they're hoping to sell targeted info to advertisers, no? In pursuit of that goal, I believe Google will do what it takes, unless mandated not to by courts or legislators.
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Like other leading technology-using businesses, Walmart is starting to look like a vendor in its integration of the latest technologies to serve its customers. That's what led it to buy two Silicon Valley cloud startups this week.
IT executives are worried about business units that use social media, Dropbox, Skype, and other public clouds without working through IT. This "cloud sprawl" creates concerns about security, compliance, and other potential problems for the enterprise, according to a study.
Cloud computing helped Netflix score a big win this week, meeting a thousandfold increase in demand and driving the Internet video service provider back to profitability. It provided Netflix with "availability, scalability, and cost savings," chief executive officer Reed Hastings wrote in a letter to shareholders.
Curious reports this week suggest that HP's blossoming interest in offering converged cloud services puts the PC giant in direct competition with Amazon. That's not how I see it.
Enterprises are discovering that using social networking within the secure setting of a SaaS provider's network gives them an unusual opportunity to freely collaborate with partners, suppliers, and even competitors.
All the recent hoopla about cloud security overlooks an important point, which is that it's not strictly a cloud problem. The linkage of online services into cooperative chains creates the risk, and only biometrics and federation of providers can save us.
Microsoft's recent decision to bundle its Office software with business partner offerings indicates that cloud software may be in the news, but licensed packages are still in demand for failover.
The Amazon smartphone rumor and the Apple mini-iPad rumor show that the mobile device giants think they have to be in all the device spaces to win. Why? Because the cloud can create an ecosystem where every device can cooperate to support the user, and if you don't supply all the devices you miss out on the total value.
CIOs need to be developing their ROI metrics for cloud now. Why? Because there may be a number of "hidden" fees that need to be added to the vendor's user "per seat" cost.
Many CIOs are findng themselves in the midst of a "cloud honeymoon," with little empirical data available about how cloud should perform and with other C-level executives just happy to have cloud. But this is likely to end in the next 18 months, when the hard questions about cost savings, agility, and speed of deployment begin to emerge.
Nokia's Phone 7 commitment gets all the news, but it may be Nokia's line of featurephones that will make the difference. Putting stuff in the cloud makes the handset cheaper and eases worries about data plan usage as well, making this ideal for emerging market opportunities and holdout buyers.
Skype recently acquired GroupMe, a startup developing tools to make mobile communications simpler. The move underscores dramatic changes in that market, ones that will change how executives communicate.
New York's Metropolitan Transit Authority is conducting a pilot test of digital kiosks to guide subway users to where they want to go more efficiently and at lower cost.
The whole Amazon.reader debate is a double-stupid. It's stupid to think that there's any e-book buyer who doesn't know Amazon's URL, and it was stupider to let ICANN launch the whole free-form TLD initiative to start with.
While NFC's original goal was to enhance mobile commerce applications, it is finding its way into a number of other uses, which is creating both opportunity as well as challenges for IT departments.
Enterprises would like to move to cloud computing but are hesitant because they are concerned about providers’ ability to secure company data. Here are some tips that help to ensure that if breaches occur, the business is not left holding the bag.
Edmunds separates customers into segments based on the info it collects on its site and from partners, and uses that to push out custom content, said Brian Baron, director of business analytics for Edmunds.com, at Predictive Analytics Innovation Summit.
The automotive website uses propensity modeling to target ads and customer registration forms, said Brian Baron, director of business analytics for Edmunds.com, at Predictive Analytics Innovation Summit.
Subsidized handsets, rather than locked handsets, should be the focus of regulators. We're not getting good deals, not fostering innovation, and weakening our power as buyers.
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