 As you know, I am a big proponent of computers, the Internet, and technology. I believe that new high tech resources have already, and will continue to enhance and improve our lives. But recent developments have made me admit that the Internet and technology has become a privacy nightmare.
The VA recently lost social security numbers and personal information of more than 26 million veterans. AOL accidentally put 20 million Web search queries on the Web. Hackers stole credit card information on 19,000 AT&T customers. The list goes on and on.
Yet, it was a story in the MIT Technology Review that recently grabbed my attention. Wade Roush wrote about Google’s new technology that can use a computer’s built-in microphone to listen to the sounds in your home to determine which television shows you were watching. Of course, the goal is to send customized ads to your computer. This could actually be an interesting way of advertising. If a superstar in the soap opera you’re watching is wearing a great necklace, the purchasing information might appear on your computer screen just as you are thinking that you would love to own that necklace.
However, this type of eavesdropping would pick up every sound in the room being monitored, including private conversations. In Google’s defense, the system reduces the audio to very small electronic bits and bytes that would not be large enough to actually reconstruct the original sounds in a room.
This software is still a prototype and is not yet in production, but it portends what is to come. It is not the way that Google plans to use the software that bothers me. It is its misuse. The VA lost veteran’s personal information because they didn’t have the proper security restrictions in place. AOL put private search queries on the Web because some unthinking employee thought it would be useful for researchers. These were both unfortunate mistakes. Add the possibility of mistakes like this to the possibility that some unethical employee might find a way to adapt the software to replay private conversations, and you have a large privacy issue.
As these and other new technologies make their appearance, we, the end users, will have to decide how much privacy we are willing to give up for certain conveniences, perks, or discounts. Technology is taking privacy issues to a higher level than ever before.
We have to trust someone, but how much and who do we trust? For years we have trusted the US post office with our personal and private mail. Now we trust our Internet Service Providers and Web mail service agents like Google and Microsoft with our email correspondence.
Although, certain privacy rules are in place, I know that Google can access the information in my Gmail account if they want to. That doesn’t bother me. Yet I have avoided using the Google Calendar. This is a wonderful online program, which lets you create and share your personal calendar. While I don’t doubt the usefulness of this program, I have some concerns with privacy. For instance, some unscrupulous employee could go through my email to find out when I would be traveling and my home would be unoccupied, but the calendar would make finding that information a lot easier with entries that read “Leave for California” on September 15th, and “Return from California” on September 25th. Am I being too picky? Well, it is possible that I am, yet in the current climate, we all have to be alert and thoughtful technology users.
Entering search terms on the average search engine (see my article on Ixquick) allows that search engine company to follow our search habits. Simply surfing on the Internet without cloaking software allows companies to know what Web sites we visit. We have already given grocery stores the ability to trace our purchases by use of “loyalty cards.” It’s time to follow technology closely and always ask ourselves how much privacy we are willing to give up to use it.
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