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Private Eyes are Watchin' You
Aug. 22nd, 2006 08:36 amPrivacy issues on the Internet are not going to be solved in a day. Personally I don't put anything out there in any sort of public form that I either won't defend or don't care that the world knows about me. Now sensitive data about my financial transactions and credit are a different issue in my book. I think identity theft is a real problem and I have gotten burned on that twice so that is a totally different rant. I also know that private e-mail can be recovered but again I am not talking about that. So push e-mail and anything that has https in front of the website out of this.
AOL announced the resignation of its chief technology officer yesterday (I read it as resign or be fired without a benefits package) for possible improper use of customer data which is a very precious commodity for a company. No names were attached to the data but it does give a strong picture of "what people are looking for" which is a treasure trove for both academic and advertising circles. Last year you may remember the Justice department subpoenaed the big 4 web browsers as part of the agency’s efforts to enforce an online child pornography law which, I believe, was struck down in the courts this year. The other reason given was the usual terrorists must be stopped vagaries that the administration has been using to do anything it wants until the courts step in and tell them that they can't do that. (Again that's another rant). Google refused to hand over the data sighting privacy issues but you can't tell me that they don't use the data for their ad revenue.
I know that anything I put out on the web that can be copied might come back to haunt me at a later data. Unlike hearsay which can be harder to prove, a web page or an IRC chat even something said in a forum can be put back out there for all to read. I know that is why some people hold their internet identity so dear. There is the anonymity of posting as "RightousSockPuppet" but with IP addresses these things can come back to haunt you in the future and there are some people on the internet that have made it their mission in life to make sure it does.
This does lead me to do a bit of self-censorship which I am OK with since I probably wouldn't say what I am thinking in public either. Now there are forums where I am more comfortable expressing some of my ideas where there are other likeminded folks but even then I know that what I say there might be used against me in the future. So I always stop and think whether I would be OK if my parents or husband found out what I said and if the answer is yes I go ahead and post it. If I have any concerns I either reword or just don't post. Occasionally something I write will be interpreted differently than I intended it but that can be a tone of voice thing that we still can't do on the Internet even with all the shorthand. I also tend to vague things up a bit when talking about people that have annoyed me so that someone can't come back and say that's libel pay me money and I have legal bills I really don't need proving that I didn't mean them.
The World Wide Web is just that an open forum where you can "meet" people from all over who share something in common with you be it your form of fandom or health problem or skill. You just have to use some common sense with how you deal with it.
Now I think the search data may have some academic purpose in the future but not now. Target marketing is not a new buzzword in the advertising world, it is just changing with the addition of the Internet. Our search trends give a picture of what we are really looking for out there. If you could see my internet searches you would see a bunch of different subjects being looked at. Part of it has to do with Peter's writing and finding information for him and part of it has to do with my diverse interests or something I want more information on because I heard something about it in passing.
I just don't like the thought of that information being used but people I don't know for things I might not like. AOL has promised to look at the situation and put better safeguards out there to protect their users personal data which I take with a grain of salt. I know that the information I give various search engines can be used for the companies' purposes. It is stated on the sites so I go in eyes open but when a company touts it security from this sort of thing and it happens then there is a problem that has to be solved. I tend to stick to Google when I search ever since they refused to just hand over data to the government because the Justice department asked.
Bottom line is that if you don't want people to know what you are searching on the internet then don't do your research on your home or office computer or possibly online at all. There are still ways of looking for things without using the internet. Remember what you put out on the internet has your "fingerprints" all over it.
I am grateful that my daughter thinks I am a great drawer. My stick figure ponies are the coolest things to her and that is such a good feeling.
AOL announced the resignation of its chief technology officer yesterday (I read it as resign or be fired without a benefits package) for possible improper use of customer data which is a very precious commodity for a company. No names were attached to the data but it does give a strong picture of "what people are looking for" which is a treasure trove for both academic and advertising circles. Last year you may remember the Justice department subpoenaed the big 4 web browsers as part of the agency’s efforts to enforce an online child pornography law which, I believe, was struck down in the courts this year. The other reason given was the usual terrorists must be stopped vagaries that the administration has been using to do anything it wants until the courts step in and tell them that they can't do that. (Again that's another rant). Google refused to hand over the data sighting privacy issues but you can't tell me that they don't use the data for their ad revenue.
I know that anything I put out on the web that can be copied might come back to haunt me at a later data. Unlike hearsay which can be harder to prove, a web page or an IRC chat even something said in a forum can be put back out there for all to read. I know that is why some people hold their internet identity so dear. There is the anonymity of posting as "RightousSockPuppet" but with IP addresses these things can come back to haunt you in the future and there are some people on the internet that have made it their mission in life to make sure it does.
This does lead me to do a bit of self-censorship which I am OK with since I probably wouldn't say what I am thinking in public either. Now there are forums where I am more comfortable expressing some of my ideas where there are other likeminded folks but even then I know that what I say there might be used against me in the future. So I always stop and think whether I would be OK if my parents or husband found out what I said and if the answer is yes I go ahead and post it. If I have any concerns I either reword or just don't post. Occasionally something I write will be interpreted differently than I intended it but that can be a tone of voice thing that we still can't do on the Internet even with all the shorthand. I also tend to vague things up a bit when talking about people that have annoyed me so that someone can't come back and say that's libel pay me money and I have legal bills I really don't need proving that I didn't mean them.
The World Wide Web is just that an open forum where you can "meet" people from all over who share something in common with you be it your form of fandom or health problem or skill. You just have to use some common sense with how you deal with it.
Now I think the search data may have some academic purpose in the future but not now. Target marketing is not a new buzzword in the advertising world, it is just changing with the addition of the Internet. Our search trends give a picture of what we are really looking for out there. If you could see my internet searches you would see a bunch of different subjects being looked at. Part of it has to do with Peter's writing and finding information for him and part of it has to do with my diverse interests or something I want more information on because I heard something about it in passing.
I just don't like the thought of that information being used but people I don't know for things I might not like. AOL has promised to look at the situation and put better safeguards out there to protect their users personal data which I take with a grain of salt. I know that the information I give various search engines can be used for the companies' purposes. It is stated on the sites so I go in eyes open but when a company touts it security from this sort of thing and it happens then there is a problem that has to be solved. I tend to stick to Google when I search ever since they refused to just hand over data to the government because the Justice department asked.
Bottom line is that if you don't want people to know what you are searching on the internet then don't do your research on your home or office computer or possibly online at all. There are still ways of looking for things without using the internet. Remember what you put out on the internet has your "fingerprints" all over it.
I am grateful that my daughter thinks I am a great drawer. My stick figure ponies are the coolest things to her and that is such a good feeling.
