The first isn’t truly a privacy concern, but it crosses [...]]]> The latest round of privacy (and other) concerns of various types are now hitting Google Earth:

1. Salon discusses how the alleged plot against JFK airport was being plotted with the images on Google Earth.
2. CNN discusses the ick factor of finding nosepickers in action on Google Earth imagery.

The first isn’t truly a privacy concern, but it crosses over into the concepts of how reliable GPS is set up to be, and government oversight (or wish to borrow) the data streams collected by a search engine.

The second does get into privacy. CNN itself covers it. If a picture is at the wrong time, we can identify people getting medical treatment, etc. Now, sure, they’re walking into a public door. But there’s still a sense of that being a moment, and not captured in an image to be searchable for a long time. There’s a lot to be said for people’s sense of moment vs. memory — I did entire papers on such subjects as an undergrad lit major, and the reason it’s so thematic in literature is because it’s a truism of the human condition.

It’s interesting to see how more broad-market publications are starting to look at these issues. It makes me wonder when they’ll hit more of personalized search.

He doesn’t mention Google Analytics, but I think GA also factors into Google’s reach for control. There’s some extent to which I [...]]]> I think Aaron Wall of SEOBook wrote a great post this week about Google and the ‘death’ of affiliate marketing. He really focuses on AdSense publishing, but I believe it goes further than that.

He doesn’t mention Google Analytics, but I think GA also factors into Google’s reach for control. There’s some extent to which I believe that the ‘free’ implementation of GA may have a greater price than many perceive.

First, it’s free up to 5 million page views/month… unless you’re displaying AdSense. Then, it’s unlimited. By doing both AdSense and GA, you’re providing Google a lot of traffic data on your site.

…the Service is provided without charge to You for up to 5 million pageviews per month per account, and if You have an active Adwords campaign in good standing, the Service is provided without charge to You without a pageview limitation.

Google may retain and use any data they collect via one’s use of the GA service:

Google and its wholly owned subsidiaries may retain and use, subject to the terms of its Privacy Policy (located at http://www.google.com/privacy.html , or such other URL as Google may provide from time to time), information collected in Your use of the Service.

Generally speaking, they cannot disclose specific, identifiable information about your site data to others without court order or consent. However, nothing within anyone’s privacy policy I’ve ever seen or written restricts a company’s ability to take the confidential data and use it internally.

I just think this opens a huge can of worms. You run a business that you want to develop qualified leads from search engines. You are handing a complete picture of all your traffic issues to one of your traffic sources — who can then learn all about where all your traffic is coming from, not just the traffic they’re sending you (or the traffic they can identify via people using Google Toolbar and Web History…).

Obviously, with some sites, this gives Google insider information to bid on other services to absorb into empire. This could lead to a better bid… or an early bid that’s lowball, but more than a lot of people ever thought to hope for. With many others, it gives them information to create speedbumps and roadblocks to search optimization.

This is why I typically tell my clients to pay for an analytics package, and why the company I work for provides an analytics package. It just seems safer and less fraught with peril.

Now, to be fair, there are ways to disable flowing [...]]]> Today’s big news:

1. Google revenue is up 60%. Google profit is up 69%
2. Google re-named Search History to Web History, and are pushing the toolbar with PR enabled to track it better.
3. Tinfoil futures are UP as I manufacture hats for myself, all my loved ones, and my cats.

Now, to be fair, there are ways to disable flowing your surf history into Google Web History. Danny Sullivan does a nice job of explaining how to ‘pause’ the feature.

I remain she who bites the hand what feeds her, and this data collection makes me queasy. I may start lining my tinfoil hat with asbestos.

Update: Look at all the privacy complaints rolling in. Kick ass.

Me: Yeah, let’s define evil, shall we?

Google is pure Web 2.0 in the sense of how they collect and [...]]]> The Wired interview with Google’s Eric Schmidt just confirms what I keep telling everyone who harps on the ‘Don’t be Evil!’ thing — ie, “But Google is GOOD! They have ‘Don’t Be Evil’ as a corporate motto!”

Me: Yeah, let’s define evil, shall we?

Google is pure Web 2.0 in the sense of how they collect and use data — user behavior helps to define their filtering mechanisms. What makes them scary and potentially evil is how freaking much data they can collect.

From that Wired article:

What does it take to improve the quality of ads on Google?

More computers, basically, and better algorithms. And more information about you. The more personal information you’re willing to give us – and you have to choose to give it to us – the more we can target. The standard example is: When you say “hot dog,” are you referring to the food, or is your dog hot? So the more personalized the information, the better the targeting. We also have done extensive engineering work with Google Analytics to understand why people click on ads. That way we can actually look at the purchase and go back and see what buyers did to get there. That is the holy grail in advertising, because advertisers don’t advertise just to advertise, they actually advertise to sell something.

When logged in to Google, data collection is nearly automatic. You can opt out of personalized search, but my money’s on 99.9% of people having no clue how to do so.

And being logged into Google isn’t exactly a case of ‘you must log in relative to search.’ Logged into Gmail today? Webmaster Tools? Any one of their 7 billion little services? Your search history is being ganked, even if you’re using the search box on your browser. (Unless you’ve hacked your FireFox, of course.)

I think some of the people who have traditionally defended Google’s information collection and use may back off a little bit now that they bought DoubleClick. The viva-Linux-we-love-Google crowd have traditionally despised anything that relates to DoubleClick, and would call them evil without even thinking about it. I don’t know that I know anyone in that crowd who would sing a merry song about ‘But Google will clean them up and make them good, like bunnies and kittens with little pink noses!’

And if it turns out I do, I will probably kick them very, very hard before I make them their very own tinfoil hat to match my own. I’m sure glad metallics are fashionable this season.