let's not get carried away
yes, VPNs and proxies are useful. being careful with yr private data is essential. but no one's out to "rule the Internet" and spy on yr every move.
what's happening is more like old-school business. a small number of big-players are trying to compete in the market. but the online space is not like other "bricks-and-mortar" business: much of what's valuable is information with no weight/space, and which can be replicated perfectly and transmitted at the speed of light. or however fast yr bandwidth is.
this means we must take responsibility for keeping our private info private. and realize that these big players may be collecting data from sites we don't even know they own. this is a new kind of problem, and yes, i consider it an invasion of privacy.
as does Hong Kong Privacy Commissioner Allan Chiang, who said "Google's means of gaining consent for the changes might have breached Hong Kong's Personal Data (Privacy) Ordinance":
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HK watchdog joins campaign against Google
As new privacy policy comes into effect, commissioner says users should have a choice over whether their data is linked to all services
Simpson Cheung
Mar 01, 2012
scmp.com
The city's privacy watchdog is joining its counterparts around the world to oppose Google's new privacy policy, which comes into effect today.
The search engine giant announced in January that more than 60 privacy policies for its different services would be combined into one main policy. That would mean, for example, that data gleaned from a Gmail account would be linked to the user's account on the video-sharing service YouTube or their Android smartphone.
Privacy Commissioner Allan Chiang Yam-wang said the move was intended to help Google target its advertising by understanding users' web-browsing habits. But he, along with counterparts elsewhere in Asia, in the European Union and in the United States, believes users should have a choice of whether their data was shared.
"There is no problem them enhancing the efficiency of their advertising service, but they also need to maintain the autonomy of individual customers" he said. "For example, if I do not want to combine all my data in your services, is there any convenient means for me to opt out?"
When users log in to Google services they are given the option of either accepting the new privacy policy or simply not using the services. Chiang said it was impossible to avoid Google's services these days as they were ubiquitous.
The devil was in the detail, Chiang said, pointing out that the new privacy policy terms did not include a clause, offered by some Google services, under which users' data would be deleted within 60 days.
Chiang said he had written to Google asking it to clarify the change and to give users the option of not sharing their data.
He said privacy watchdogs around the world were also putting pressure on Google by launching investigations or writing to the company. He is in close touch with his counterparts.
Chiang said Google's means of gaining consent for the changes might have breached Hong Kong's Personal Data (Privacy) Ordinance, but said communication with the company was likely to be a better way of resolving the problem.
Google did not reply to questions last night.
[ Last edited by JackTheBat at 1-3-2012 22:58 ] | |
