Gmail Privacy: Are You Giving Away Your Business Plans to Google?
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.
Cloud Computing: Do You Trust Google With Your Government Info?
If you think the government can’t keep your information private, just wait until next year when Google starts getting contracts with federal government agencies for its cloud computing services. Beyond the civil servant losing a laptop with your Social Security number, tax return, or health records on it, you’ll get the added joy of knowing your privacy can be invaded by a hacker or simply because someone didn’t secure the data properly.
If Google gets certified by the government under the Federal Information Security Management Act (FISMA), will you sleep better? This is the same government that miscalculates deficits by the trillions and couldn’t handle a cash-for-clunkers program without botching it. Do you think the government is smart enough to put sufficient security restrictions in the contracts or enforce the restrictions that it does impose? What about ownership? Who owns the data? Will it remain exclusively owned by the government or will your private data also be owned by Google to do with it as it pleases. If you think Google can build a pretty good profile of you with your current gmail, Google apps, and browsing activities, just wait until it has the government’s treasure trove of data to mine?
Let’s assume for purposes of argument that Google’s cloud computing is 100% secure, its motives are pure, and your data will remain private (for now). What happens if the government wants to switch service providers at some time in the future (for example, a lower bid at contract renewal time)? Will the government be able to migrate the data to a different platform or is it in essence held hostage by a proprietary system operated by Google?
If you look at the way Google has treated intellectual property rights (Google Book Search) and privacy (Google Maps street view), you’ll understand that the company has a history of ignoring legal rights when it serves its purpose to do so. Google doesn’t have to be evil to make a buck at your expense. It just has to see the profits outweigh the potential legal penalties.
Am I picking on Google? No. It just happens to be the 800 lb. gorilla that’s about to play with your privacy like a toy it can discard on a whim. The same critique applies to its potential competitors for government cloud computing contracts.
