Forum Post: Has Google Turned?
Posted 12 years ago on Jan. 26, 2012, 3:52 p.m. EST by deloprator20000
(9)
This content is user submitted and not an official statement
Google whose motto is "Don't be evil":
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Don%27t_be_evil
have changed their privacy policy from 60 different policies to just one policy, making it clearer and easier for people to understand. Unfortunately they have also changed the way the collect data on individual users. They will collect information to create a comprehensive profile of each individual as they use google services, including google search, g-mail, youtube, etc.
http://www.pcmag.com/article2/0,2817,2399344,00.asp
and
http://www.economist.com/node/21543433
Their reason is "a simpler, more intuitive Google experience", though there are economic incentives, it will allow advertisers to better target their audience.
There is another reason, besides the economic, It will also make it easier for government agencies to apply dataminig techniques to the google data to determine if any person(s) is/are a threat.
As we have seen in the National Defense Authorization Act, what the government will consider is a threat may be vague.
This is but one move in larger strategy, the FBI is looking for a company to build software that can monitor social websites AND There is a bill in Hawaii to track ALL web surfers.
There is even a strategy to monitor internet traffic of everyone on earth:
U.S. intelligence basically wants to control any and all social movements, anywhere on earth.
I think I see the end of the internet as we know it, a "soft" totalitarianism is descending on the U.S. populace and on the world.
I have noticed lately that I have more ' google associations' on the web than I care to have. I have avoided Facebook because of intruders, spies and lack of ' personal space'. I'm not doing anything that I would be ashamed of either. But, this is America- the country that was always touting how it was so unlike communist countries that spy on their citizens, censor their information and feed them propoganda. Hmmm Sounds mighty familiar to me and I'm a US citizen. There is only one reason that Google and other companies create these ' associations' and it's not for ease of use. In fact, I can't even change my ID or username anymore when I visit any Google related page. I see so many young folks get hoodwinked by all the new gadgets and apps that connect everyone and sadly so many think that it's ok to give up privacy, freedom, even waste their hard earned money on such nonsense. I guess they have never known any different. But, I do!
Google intrusiveness is a problem, though what is troubling is that such information could be used against a private individual. Younger generations seem to value privacy differently than pre-internet generations, privacy is not as big a concern.
Yet, what the young don't realize is that just as your friends can view your information so can the powerful - and their interest may not coincide with yours.
What if you are trying to investigate the government, local or federal. Those with sufficient authority can make your life difficult by using google information. What if you expressed certain political views that are not popular this could be used against you later on.
This information could be altered to blackmail individuals, to track people, to stop movements, etc.
You're so right and it's of grave concern. If someone were to hack your computer and store illegal or unsavory material on there ( child porno for example which happens quite often to folks) then YOU are held responsible for that material. Oh and let's say that someone with power decided to set you up by making it appear as a hack...even scarier! This happened to a ten year old's computer and the feds broken down his family's front door one easter morning and arrested the kid. Even worse, it took a LONG time for them to release the boy even though they knew his computer had been hacked. No commonsense anymore when authorities are involved. The poor kid and his family had to move and the boy lost two years of his education.
I tell people all the time that everything you put online STAYS THERE and it becomes others' property. I left Care2 for the same reasons. But, Care2 is probably not even nearly as hinged to big gov't as Google, Facebook and other sites. Apparently what Google is doing to me at the moment is tailoring /censoring all the info I receive on web pages based on my browsing history. They have been doing this for a couple of years but now it's super obvious and it's annoying as heck. If I wanted to see the same things on every site I visit then why would I visit different sites? My husband can do the same google search that I do and yet we will both get entirely different results based on our browsing history.
Grassroots revolutions will no longer be possible, only those revolutions that serve the interest of global powers and corporate interests will be allowed to take place.
My advice: STAY AWAY FROM HAWAII
What is Google?