Google is almost a necessity these days. You cannot feasibly access anything on the internet without a search engine, and Google is universally accepted as the most reliable option by a country mile. However, using this comes with a potentially horrifying consequence: data collection.
Google records most of your activity while using its search engine and its affiliated sites, like Youtube. It states in its official privacy page that the information collected includes things you search for, websites you visit, videos you watch, ads you click on or tap, your location, device information, IP address and cookie data.
It further claims that it uses this data to do things like help autocomplete your searches and make your Google Maps experience more efficient, but to me, these minor conveniences are nowhere near worth the fact that Google can effectively construct a profile of each of its users that includes everything from their appearance and voice to their habits.
Regardless of whether its intentions are benevolent are not, no company should have access to a database this comprehensive.
One thing a lot of people tend to forget is that Google is not just a search engine. Their company controls one of the most popular email services, two of the most popular web browsers (Safari and Chrome), and is one of the pioneers in the self-driving car business. They control our favorite video streaming site and help us navigate around unfamiliar places.
In almost every way, Google has made our lives more convenient and for that reason, has become one of the most powerful companies in the world. With command over this many sectors in everyday American life, the amount of data they would be able to collect on all of us is astounding.
Now, what Google actually does with this information, or at least what we know they do with it, is described pretty well in an article by Android Central. They state that Google offers “a tailored service to the people buying ad space from Google.” What that means is if a company is attempting to sell something that only a specific audience would be interested in, like a videogame, they can purchase ad space through Google that only shows their ads to people that have activity indicating an interest in them.
This is one of the bigger ways that Google makes money, and is a primary reason for many of its services being free. Really, it all ties back into the fact that Google’s model is one of convenience for everyone, and that fosters complacency.
As I have stated, I do not take issue with Google’s data collection policies because of ads. I take issue with them because of the mere fact that they exist is a bad omen for the future.
If this data were to reach the hands of someone with the wrong intentions or if Google itself were to decide to use them for more than just ad space, our individual privacy could be completely destroyed and we could be manipulated in all kinds of ways.
Google might claim that they are responsible with our information, but history has shown that having this kind of power eventually leads to it being abused. In fact, they have already shown that they are willing to abuse it. The New York Times reported in 2013 that, “A German privacy regulator fined Google €145,000 on Monday for the systematic, illegal collection of personal data while it was creating the Street View mapping service…”
This included personal emails, pictures and pretty much any other unencrypted data. It had nothing to do with using their services and absentmindedly agreeing to their data collection standards, but was in fact everything to do with literal stealing.
Google has painted a very rosy picture of itself in the minds of the American public, but they have shown their willingness to go too far with their power.
They may not be Skynet, but the prospect of them becoming a real-life equivalent is much too real to keep ignoring. We must bring awareness to this as a society, because if we wait much longer, we may no longer have the power to do anything about it.
