Google applying double standards? - 6 views

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  #1 juliet huang on 09 Sep 09

   

  We all know that Google revealed the blogger who called model Liskula Cohen a skank, and everyone in the web community was up in arms because it seems that Google has breached its duty to protect individual privacy rights.
  
  Many cases for example, a resort developer has obtained a court order requiring Google Inc. to help uncover the identities of anonymous contributors to an online newspaper that posted articles linking him to government corruption in the Turks and Caicos Islands.Google has been asked to turn over data that may help identify users of the newspaper's account with Gmail, the Internet search company's e-email service. Google has complied with this order.
  
  To me, who Google is complying with already perpetuates a certain ideology. Besides that point, Google has made a contradictory stand by saying :
  
  Special legal privacy protections for users may apply in cases where law enforcement or civil litigants ask Google for information about what books an individual user has looked at. Some jurisdictions have special "books laws" saying that this information is not available unless the person asking for it meets a special, high standard - such as proving to a court that there is a compelling need for the information, and that this need outweighs the reader's interest in reading anonymously under the United States First Amendment or other applicable laws. Where these "books laws" exist and apply to Google Books, we will raise them. We will also continue our strong history of fighting for high standards to protect users, regardless of whether a particular "books law" applies. In addition, we are committed to notifying the affected user if we receive such a request that may lead to disclosure of their information; if we are permitted to do so by law and if we have an effective way to contact the user, we will seek to do so in time for the user to challenge the request.
  
  In summary, they are saying that they will defend disclosures of reading lists and user search queries, but comply with court orders if individual user's rights are involved.
  
  Why is Google protecting broader rights like book logs, but not so much for user's rights?

   

  <div class="cArrow"> </div><div class="cContentInner">We all know that Google revealed the blogger who called model Liskula Cohen a skank, and everyone in the web community was up in arms because it seems that Google has breached its duty to protect individual privacy rights. <br /> <br /> Many cases for example, a resort developer has obtained a court order requiring Google Inc. to help uncover the identities of anonymous contributors to an online newspaper that posted articles linking him to government corruption in the Turks and Caicos Islands.Google has been asked to turn over data that may help identify users of the newspaper's account with Gmail, the Internet search company's e-email service. Google has complied with this order. <br /> <br /> To me, who Google is complying with already perpetuates a certain ideology. Besides that point, Google has made a contradictory stand by saying : <br /> <br /> Special legal privacy protections for users may apply in cases where law enforcement or civil litigants ask Google for information about what books an individual user has looked at. Some jurisdictions have special "books laws" saying that this information is not available unless the person asking for it meets a special, high standard - such as proving to a court that there is a compelling need for the information, and that this need outweighs the reader's interest in reading anonymously under the United States First Amendment or other applicable laws. Where these "books laws" exist and apply to Google Books, we will raise them. We will also continue our strong history of fighting for high standards to protect users, regardless of whether a particular "books law" applies. In addition, we are committed to notifying the affected user if we receive such a request that may lead to disclosure of their information; if we are permitted to do so by law and if we have an effective way to contact the user, we will seek to do so in time for the user to challenge the request. <br /> <br /> In summary, they are saying that they will defend disclosures of reading lists and user search queries, but comply with court orders if individual user's rights are involved. <br /> <br /> Why is Google protecting broader rights like book logs, but not so much for user's rights?</div>

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