A must-read series on online privacy by the Wall Street Journal. If you browse the web, if you write email, if you have an ISP you should know about this
I know we've discussed in class how Google (and other entities) seems to know so much about us, but isn't it a bit naive to assume the opposite? We expose a piece of our private lives in every way: credit cards for example track where we go, where we eat, what we buy, and the like. Even if paying cash at places, we're signing up for list servs, blogs, campaigns, donating to charities that require contact information, filling out surveys. Given this, is it all that surprising that we are being "watched"? I don't think it's possible to function in today's society without exposing much of ourselves (when you want to pay cash somewhere, the bank knows when, where, what time of day you withdrew money), unless we change our names or deliver false information.
Can Google continue to "Not be evil" and dominate the global market for search and user-generated content (YouTube, Blogger). Discussed how Google balances among free speech and privacy, the censorship demands of governments and its financial interests.