When you go to an Internet marketing event, you don’t run around the room telling all your potential competitors your new business ideas and trade secrets. And if you find spyware on a computer filled with your business documents, you don’t leave it there to harvest your confidential information.
Why not?
Because you want to implement your plans before someone else does.
Yet the odds are good that you’re telling Google your business plans and other confidential information on a daily basis. And if you believe Google’s informal “Don’t be evil” motto, then perhaps your trust is well-placed.
But are you willing to take the risk?
Here’s an example…
I recently sent an e-mail to one of my Gmail accounts from my law firm as a test. The e-mail described a nonexistent “Project X” as being being important, potentially the “next Google,” and the need to get a patent right away to protect intellectual property rights.
Checking the message in the gmail inbox, I was hit with a bunch of sidebar ads by attorneys including patent lawyers.
Think about that for a moment.
If Google is willing to sniff through your e-mail to target advertising, what is it willing to do when it comes to your business ideas that you’re communicating back and forth daily by e-mail?
Note that I”m not picking on Google. The same could be said of Yahoo! and others. Google just happens to be a very good example because major Internet marketers prefer to use it because of ease and functionality. However, this convenience comes at a price…the privacy of your business plans.
If you develop a better widget, understand that your e-mail communications are not private. And when it comes to gmail, know that the content is being actively scanned for keywords…at least for advertising. Perhaps more. Who knows? Maybe your widget plans will become Google Widget 1.0. If so, good luck trying to collect royalties.
On a lighter note, check out this related humor video regarding Google and privacy.
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Thanks Mike.
I have noticed that too. Very interesting to say the least.
The first time I really noticed that the ad was targeting the contents of my sent email, never used Gmail again for anything sensitive.
Thanks for the post.
Terry
And I see Ryan Deiss is selling a course in how to do exactly what you describe as part of marketing. Just doesn’t seem right.
It’s the same thing as with all those million agreements you have to click “I Accept” to when installing software, signing up for web services or just leaving a comment. Most people, including business owners, don’t read them.
And it’s understandable, it’s impossible for any person with a life or a business to have the time to read every agreement thrown in front of them.
I try to read and understand all agreements I do for my business while I skip most that can be regarded as between them and me the consumer. I try not to submit content though that I wouldn’t feel comfortable if they stole, molested and sold on the slave market in some remote place.
A place to watch out is when you buy stock photos, there’s always at least 23 gotchas about where, when and how you can actually use the artwork even if you pay for it, if there’s a model release, who is responsible if it’s fake, on what content it can be used, in what quantities and so on.
I wish they wouldn’t make it so complicated, I can’t even count the products and services I haven’t bought because the agreement was unclear on some important point.
It’s funny by the way when the person at the bank or the insurance company throws some two page small print agreement in front of you for some normal thing you do like open an account and when you actually start to read that agreement they look at you like, hey what are you doing, just sign it.
Simon
SecretSearchEngineLabs.com
I never thought of this way Gmail was doing. I see the sidebar ads. But, I didn’t think of how they scan my
e-mail content. It now make me wonder of internet privacy.
Thanks, Mike, for sharing.
Mike,
Certainly a very valid point to think about. We know the Google founders like algorithmic solutions. What about this. “Deliver the top 25 Internet advertising business idea from the top influencers to my desk every morning at 10am.” Do Larry, Sergej or Eric have such an application running?
I assume it would violate the terms of service, privacy, and maybe other agreements and laws, etc. (you are the lawyer.)
Actually any ISP, hosting company, email service provider, telco, … could implement such analytic spyware for the traffic that passes through them. Anti-spam filters do exactly what?
There is only one cure: Encryption.
It’s astonishing that very few people are concerned and even fewer are actively using ciphers. (You can get my private key from my website, on the about page. But that’s really rare in the business world.)
In that respect FAX still is a more secure form of communication.
Yours
John
P.S.: Thanks for the wake up call.
Thanks, John, for your comments. Agree that encryption is the way to go. Most people won’t adopt, however, until they discover they’ve lost/revealed something important in their e-mail communications.
Wow John,
that is really fascinating and until Mike posted about it, I had never even thought about it. You are soooooo right! Do you have any tutorials demonstrating how to encrypt email on a virtual private server?
Well, I guess we all better just stop using the internet. I can hear the screams and gnashing of teeth and wringing of hands now. “What!? Not use the internet?”
There are many avenues for many people to snag our information and Google, among many others, has got plenty of opportunity if they wanted to do that. But isn’t it just possible that they know doing so would not be in their interest or the interest of anyone else? If they were doing it, sooner or later it will come out and they will lose one of the greatest assets to their business, the trust of the public, our trust. So with that said, the other side of the coin is, buyer beware and be smart.
But really, Mike, let’s not sensationalize something that, in this day and age, ought to be common knowledge about using the internet.
Mitch
“Begin with the end in mind.”
Understand your position, Mitch. Don’t intend to sensationalize the issue. However, most people unthinkingly put data in e-mails, in their Facebook profiles, etc., without thinking of the privacy and security consequences. Until there are safeguards in place, it is always good to remind the public that what’s put online can and will come back to haunt you in unexpected ways.
Ok boys and girls – if you would take the time to read the “standard terms and conditions” you will come to realize that you are giving Google, YouTube, FaceBook, Twitter the right to use your images and words in any way they seem fit. This is the unrealized cost of doing business with these so called free services. Additional point – in most cased as along as I follow the terms and conditions and give proper link credit I am allow to use the images and words as well. Allow me to use Mike as an example. First let me say that Mike is as far as I know a great attorney, but if someone was writing a blog post about “bad lawyers” what is to keep them from pulling an image of Mike off of Facebook, Flickr, or and other site with his pic on it and using it. True it is taken out of context but how is the unknown reader to know.. There is no way you can protect your image and content from this type of use if you use these services. In fact, some of your content may be used without your ever knowing it. Something to think about.
Thank you, Terry, for adding to the conversation. Most people don’t realize how terms and conditions and privacy policies affect their online rights (or lack thereof). When in doubt, read the fine print.
Where would you get an email that would be more secure?
Theda,
E-mail really isn’t secure. You can encrypt it but few people will cooperate. If you’re wanting to encrypt at the user level, consider using OpenPGP.
Always assume the government can read your e-mail and so can many hackers. If you want something truly private, don’t put it online.
And even offline, Benjamin Franklin said a couple hundred years ago that 3 can keep a secret if 2 are dead. True today too.
Best wishes,
-Mike
Hi
First of all Thanks for your useful post. Have alook
Uses of Gmail
There is a well-know Internet marketer releasing a Gmail Advertising course and that was one of his selling points that he’ll show purchasers of his course how they can hijack their competitors business by placing ads with Gmail. I use Google Docs and Gmail everyday. I knew the price for these “free” services but I’m okay with it. They’re great tools. So I’m not paranoid enough yet to opt-out to the Google Opt-Out Village.
CNBC had a similar warning in their “Inside the Mind of Google” TV documentary. In the end it boils down if you trust a huge corporation like Google. Who knows what can happen. If Google abuses this I’m sure lawyers will have a field day cashing in with lawsuits.
Alan,
My hunch is that Google does a cost/benefit analysis that includes its ability to outspend most plaintiffs in legal disputes. Other than government agencies as litigants, and perhaps a Microsoft or Yahoo!, there’s little that concerns Google about lawsuits that the company can throw whole teams of lawyers on to crush through pre-trial maneuvers.
As for the Internet marketer teaching how to hijack competitors’ business, if done wrong, it opens the company doing it into potential legal liability for trademark infringement, deceptive trade practices, etc.
Best wishes,
-Mike
Excellent post and comments. Just goes to show you just how big Google is and how much they’re involved in internet activities. I don’t personally have a problem with it as they do, in fact, provide a ton of useful resources and websites for free. Plus, maybe these targeted ads might be helpful to some people. There will always be positives and negatives with every action. The fact is, it’s their search engine and they can use it how they see fit. Where do they go from here, I wonder?
Patrick,
I agree. It boils down to informed consent. People should know what to expect from a privacy standpoint. If they choose to use after receiving that information, then it is assumption of the risk. Gmail has a place in business. It just wouldn’t be the first place I’d be using to send or receive trade secrets and other important data.
Best wishes,
-Mike
There you have it! BIG BROTHER at work! I will refuse to wear the mark of the GEEK! GGG! I know really not funny!
I found you post after I googled the subject of google reading my gmail. I rarely use gmail, but I had just written a long email to my book coach, an I used the word “passive income”. I suddenly noticed the sidebar was full of ads about passive income and the top header was as well. That totally creeped me out. I had absolutely no idea google “reads” your email and then targets you with ads in your gmail account. I find that completely unacceptable.
I am going to write about this on a blog I have where I warn people of scams online and stuff like this.
That is just wrong. I am sure most people have no idea about this.
Very interesting reading your blog along with peoples comments!
..I mean, there is nothing really we can do as individuals or as a people going up against billion-dollar companies, they are afterall amongst the ‘higher powers’ as some say, and can do and get away with pretty much whatever they wanted to. They have the money and the resources.
I think we must all learn to either adapt to these ways if you are not willing to stop them (ie using the internet), or just learn more, keep yourselves informed about what is going on and always be aware of what you are doing and the information you are discussing over the internet.
Its 2010 now, open your eyes- you have to keep up with times. Technology is developing, people and ideas are changing, everything is becoming computerised. Sooner ot later cash will no longer be used and all your money will be stored on computers. I dont trust anything or anyone these days, and its really sad how all the youngsters today seem hypnotised by their computer screens. They are targetting the younger audiences so that they grow up, along with their childrens children with their lives revolving around computers, and that is all they will know. And that is also how they can unconsiously control the masses if they wanted to.
Im going to stop now as im starting to go slightly off subject.
Thanks for the post though, its good to see that some of us can still think for ourselves.
Ron