Google: Questionable Initiatives
Google's reading your mail, recording the websites you visit, making your notes visible to the whole Internet... Not enough? Well, another pleasant surprise for you: now it's going to record and analyze your phone calls.
That's what we have learnt from our colleagues, The Next Web: Google has filed documents to patent a very unconventional technology called "Advertising Based on Environmental Conditions". Can you guess what it should mean? Right, this means that Google is going to analyze everything that happens around you, search for some distinctive features of your environment, and then try to sell you some stuff based on those details. Now it goes only about studying your phone calls. Only! But let's go into detail.
This is how the technology is explained in Google's patent application: "Information about an environmental condition of a remote device is received, the environmental condition being determined based on a signal output from a sensor of the remote device or a sensor coupled to the remote device. An advertisement is identified based on the environmental condition, and the advertisement is provided to the remote device."
Well, it's of course much better than a real person listening to your conversations and knowing what you discuss with your friends (oh stop it, I know it's done all the time, but in the majority of cases it's done secretly. But these guys have absolutely no concept of remorse). But damn! Why should an unknown program record my calls and then spam my favourite websites' advertisement blocks, as well as my e-mail with irritating adds I will never make use of? I mean, it will recognize loud music playing at my neighbour's appartment and will start heavily advertising earphones or audiologist's service in my mailbox? I don't want it to be like that.
But at least, given it's a would-be-patented technology (and it must be quite expensive, I assume), we won't experience inconveniences inflicted by third-party companies. So, only Google's gonna be in charge of everything.
I gonna stay with the only company trying to be honest. It's Google.
I don't mean we should all stop using Google's products at once. I keep using them and I'm quite happy with their quality. However, we shouldn't underestimate the extent, to which our personal information is mishandled by the big IT-companies, especially. The products should stay, what should be changed is how thelaw handles privacy violation by Google and the like, otherwise we risk losing our privacy altogether in ten years (no joking here).
I think it's a matter of trust. As for me, I trust Sergey & Larry (reason does't matter, e.g. it's I suppose I know their history). I don't trust the crowd.