Nice — evil? — viral video for getting people to promote the cause of "Do Not Track Me" legislation. Via Wired:
It’s not the first anti-Google antic from the group, which is largely funded by legal fees, the Rose Foundation, Streisand Foundation, Tides Foundation and others. Last month the group announced it had parked outside lawmakers’ Washington-area residences to determine whether they had unsecured Wi-Fi networks that might have been sniffed by Google as part of the internet giant’s Street View and Google Maps program.UPDATE, 9/4/10: Google just updated its privacy policy.
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Nicely done, but just a tad paranoid, although, considering it comes from the same person who thought impeaching Willie for perjury would constitute a 'coup d'etat', it could have been worse.
Given Google's record with the red Chinese, I probably don't trust them, either, but I don't know that I want the Feds "here to help" on this.
I started using a gmail account for my email then later read somewhere they sift your email at google. True?
Whatever.
I've become fairly alarmed in recent years over privacy concerns. What got my attention is shoppers cards like the ones from the grocery store. I realized we had been using one for 10 years and they know more about what I eat than I do.
Seriously, the probably already know what we'll have for Thanksgiving dinner this year.
Kerr had a post a week or so ago about the feds having the right - without a warrant IIRC - to location tracking information from your cell phone. Your cell phone reports your location continuously if it is turned on.
I also read that facial recognition software has gotten so good that soon they'll be texting you as you walk in the store.
So all that's need is for Walmart to buy Verizon and Kroger. Then I can walk in Walmart and get texted:
Dave! Fruit of the Loom Crew Neck T-Shirts on Sale! Your size in stock. It's been 6 months since you purchased a package, come on by!
It's fairly creepy.
But I get to keep the cookies right?
I wish they'd just email me a shopping list for this evening so I don't have to go make one. They already know what we need anyway.
How’s this worse than living in a small town where the store clerk knows your name, and the names of your kids, the last time you were in the store, which of your kids got caught shoplifting, and what you did in the 8th grade behind the school dumpster?
If you don't like google tracking your information, there are solutions sans government.
Unless google starts using the information maliciously (ie, apart from advertising purposes), I really don't care.
I thought it pretty lame. It smacked you in the face with it's overly paranoid message. True subversive advertising would use clever writing and humor to get the point across.
(As for shopper cards; don't knock em. We probably save over a thousand dollars a year using ours between sales, really good coupons and just plain cash back.
For those paranoid that the store now knows all the things you buy, the clerks have that already pretty much figured out and many stores traditionally had someone who would manually track purchases. I don't mind since it means what we want in stock hopefully remains in stock.)
Just the list of who is supporting this project is enough to turn me off their message.
Alton Brown should sue.
I used to pick up receipts at the groceries where I have shoppers cards, and take down the card numbers that were on them. They've since stopped printing the whole number, but I have a good collection. I'll print a label with the barcode of someone else's card and cover the barcode on my card with it. That way I get the discounts, but they're not credited to me.
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