Earlier today (Jan. 24th, 2012) Google announced some more-than-minor changes to it's Privacy Policy and ToS. As far as I can tell at the time of writing, it's not that big of a deal to the general public yet, but I expect it will be before too long. Reading this article from the Washington Post, there already appear to be some major concerns (as there should be imho), so I expect the crowds to follow soon. Now before I jump on the bandwagon and talk about why I think this is a bad move from Google, I just want to say one thing about the internet in general.
Up until about a week ago we were all rebelling against the proposed SOPA and PIPA bills that would severely damage the free and open internet as we know it. During this time some people expressed their opinions against those opposing the bills, not only by stating the bills would be a good thing and that 'good citizens' should have nothing to fear, but also by claiming people were just 'in it to be in it', overreacting to a bill they didn't even (fully) understand. While this may be (partially) true in some cases (though in all honesty, I don't think anyone at the House Judiciary Committee really understood it either), I still think it's a good thing for people to openly voice their concerns on the future of the internet. That's why I sincerely hope people won't be reticent in voicing their opinions on this matter, simply because of the idea that 'we just spoke up' or the notion that we may be seen as a bunch of whiners. This stuff is important and concerns most people active on the web today (which is 30% of the world's population! That's almost one in three people on the planet![1]).
Yes, the internet's still free and open, and yes, it's been through a lot, but that's no excuse to just sit back and hope things will fix themselves and stay the same forever. Collectively, we've built 555 million websites, opened 3.1 billion e-mail accounts, shared 6 billion photos on Flickr, and are uploading an additional 4.5 million there every day[1]. We have helped build this amazing network and have given it shape in a way unprecedented before. It is also out duty to maintain and protect it.
Now I realize that may all sound a bit exaggerated to some, but I don't think it is. To most people, the internet a place to gather and share information. To many, the internet is a place to unwind and to some, the internet is a place to be anonymous. To everyone though, the internet is a place of choice and possibilities. I think this is true in general, but especially in the context of Google's new Privacy Policy and ToS, the most important choice at hand is that of identity. In real life I'm Patrick Boelens, 3D modeler and animator, programmer and game designer. Attached to me are a set of attributes, interests, social relations and much, much more. That's me, all of it.
On the internet however, there are many me's. I can present the professional part of me when I'm making tutorials or responding to mails or comments. At the very same time, I could be showing my nerdy side by posting on a Star Trek forum, lurking around and commenting on bronies.memebase.com, discussing politics through skype, talking about A Beautiful Mind on IMDB or listening to Nightwish on iTunes. They're all very different parts of me, and here's the beauty of it: They don't clash!
All of those me's are completely separate from each other, unless I specifically choose to link them/ tell people about all of those accounts. When you stop and think about it, the internet is realy just one big catalyst to a very natural human phenomenon: assuming different roles, with different people, in different places. We do this all the time in our everyday lives. When you're with friends you act differently then you would with, say, your employer or your family. This is exactly what I initially loved about Google+: You could share different messages with different people, all from the same network of people. However, it seems the almighty Google's changed it's mind about this philosophy of roles and identity.
"We’re getting rid of over 60 different privacy policies across Google and replacing them with one that’s a lot shorter and easier to read. Our new policy covers multiple products and features, reflecting our desire to create one beautifully simple and intuitive experience across Google."
"If you’re signed into Google, we can do things like suggest search queries – or tailor your search results – based on the interests you’ve expressed in Google+, Gmail, and YouTube."
From what I understand, the underlined 'can' in that quote should really be a 'will'. Here are two more quotes taken directly from Google's new privacy page[2]
"We use the information we collect from all of our services to provide, maintain, protect and improve them, to develop new ones, and to protect Google and our users. We also use this information to offer you tailored content – like giving you more relevant search results and ads.
We may use the name you provide for your Google Profile across all of the services we offer that require a Google Account. In addition, we may replace past names associated with your Google Account so that you are represented consistently across all our services."
To me, that sounds like a possible forced merger of online identities. Personally, I'd be quite unpleasantly surprised if all of a sudden my Youtube name is displaying as Patrick Boelens, rather than my l337 alter-ego Captain Awes0me. It's exactly this kind of stuff that I'm afraid will keep happening more and more and that will jeopardize the internet in it's current form. It's things like this that take away exactly that part of it that makes it so special and unique.
Granted, Google does provide a nice set of options in regards to this topic, but far from everything's optional and not everything works as promised (I just did a quick test using two different browsers; I could get a completely different order of news results for the same query).
Now I realize this is 'only Google' and probably not the end of the world, but it's still a big deal. Millions of people using Google will be affected by these changes in one way or another and looking at the bigger picture it will have a pretty big impact. On top of that, Google has become such an integral part of the web with all it's services, I feel it should take responsibility and act accordingly by providing their vast and diverse customers with more control over each of those separately. Especially since they're completely different products.
If I had signed up for, say, a 'Google Multimedia' service that added video, blogs and albums over the years I probably would've felt diffrently about this, since it's just building onto an existing platform. In reality however, I signed up for several unrelated products such as Youtube and Blogger, that Google just happened to purchase. I don't mind this. What I do mind is Google deciding I should be the same person on all of those platforms. I'm not, and I don't want to be. But moreover, I don't want Google making that call for me.
In the end, I think my problem with this new policy isn't really with Google merging privacy policies or sharing data across services. It's about losing control. Losing control over part of my online identity, and losing control over how I wish to experience the web.
Imagine you'd be married and both you and your partner had a car. What Google is doing now is as if Ford were to suddenly break into your cars and install a linked GPS system so you can keep track of each other's cars. You don't particularly dislike the function (heck, you might even find it useful sometimes), you just never asked for it either and, you know... it's your car! What right does Ford have to impose something like that on you?
I realize this post may come off as a bit dramatic, but I just wanted to get my opinion out there. Yes, I'm very stubborn and no, I don't like to sit by idly and just accept whatever changes are made. I like to be critical about things, and I would like to encourage you to do the same.
-Patrick
Sources:
[1]http://royal.pingdom.com/2012/01/17/internet-2011-in-numbers/
[2]https://www.google.com/policies/privacy/preview/
