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I felt pretty awful when I got up this morning. After emailing all of my appointments to let them know they did not want to see me today, I browse on over to Safeway.com and get them to deliver my cold and flu med supply. Feels like the flu…. Sure enough, a click over to Google’s fluetrends, lets me know the odds are in the flu’s favor. Yuck! WebMD confirms the worst - sounds like the flu. What if it’s H1N1? Hmmmm, let’s go see what we can find out about this bad boy. Search, search, search…. Thank God, I work at home, and once those meds arrive to prop me up for a few hours, I can still make my deadlines by email & online posting!
Ain’t technology great? Twenty years ago I would have been dragging my butt to Walgreens, the doctor’s office, the grocery store; and sharing my germs with everyone on the way. Today, technology makes it possible to have the flu, right here in the privacy of my own home! Wait a minute; privacy?
If you weren’t sick before, taking an in-the-know look at privacy on the internet just might get you there. When most people think of internet privacy, it conjures up visions of some poor guy sitting at a desk somewhere, watching a panel of lights flash or a code-spewing monitor, report your every click. Not quite. Think instead, of the sales department now armed with data that tells advertisers things like; they can guarantee a 65% click-through and ultimate purchase rate on cold advertisements to people in your IP block; on your street, in your neighborhood, within your zip code, and within driving distance to their store Number XXX. Oh(!), and wouldn’t delivery service be nice in that area for the next few weeks (at a premium price, of course), and a sale on cold meds but an in-store or on-line ad for all the other items (you and your sick neighbors) just bought (7-up sells more soda during flu season too)! Yes, you’re now one of them. And, next week, when similar activities are monitored at a house somewhere across town, they can be FIRST to stick their banner ad in front of them! Oh, yeah, and later today, when you start that browsing again, you’re going to see nice shiny new ads in the banner for cold and flu remedies. Aren’t you glad you used the internet?
As noted in a recent email from Google’s Peter Fleischer, to the EU Privacy board:
"The characteristics of the data that help prevent fraud and malware; correct users’ spelling mistakes; or provide Flu Trends, which could help prevent outbreak of illness, are the same characteristics that introduce privacy risks.”
OK, so maybe it’s OK that a whole bunch of folks now know you have the flu. Maybe some people will actually benefit from you sharing your click and search info with the Microsofts and Yahoos and Googles out there. I suppose that all depends on what type of data is used, and by whom, but there’s another aspect to this that few people think of; how long do they get to use it?
Last week, in Europe, the EU privacy review panel recommended that the three biggies just mentioned, and others, limit their storage of this data to 6 months or less. How long do they currently store such privileged info? Well, at Microsoft, 18 months is the minimum, and until recently similar policy existed at both Google and Yahoo! Why would they want it so long? One word - advertising. Selling that advertising information and those statistics is a big money maker for these companies. Data over time builds up stronger statistics that advertisers can depend on with greater reliability. They can track better trends, and extend them if they’re savvy enough to work and plot with their distribution and supply chain folks. Yep; thar’s Big Bucks in them thar’ statistics. (And since I'm here already, let's just mention the words "search engine toolbars" to pave the way for future columns!)
To keep folks at the EU happy, Microsoft conceded to reduce their search data storage time if everyone else does (how nice and generous of them?). Google cut their storage time in about half; from 18 months to about 9. Yahoo will be keeping your info for a mere 90 days, with the exception of some important safety and security data. Despite these improvements, privacy concerns are still matters of great significance, and if we connect the dots, maybe we can infer a little bit of insight into the future? Let’s take a look.
First; those practices will be reduced in Europe. Not here. We haven’t decided on such rigid standards here as of yet - and in our wonderful free market enterprise system, those 6 months or less standards, I’ll bet, are a very, very, very long way away. I guess you should buy your cold remedies and read your banner ads and just shut up about it for now. If you’re interested in impacting what those rules and regulations are, however, you could bone up on some of the Privacy 101 stuff that everyone should know: check it out at places like http://www.privacyrights.org/fs/fs18-cyb.htm, and http://www.aclu.org/technology-and-liberty, and www.privacy.org
Second, in a buried news story this week, Microsoft has proposed extending a partnership with Yahoo in Europe. There is a sneaking suspicion running through my head - of course the alarms go off when Microsoft being friendly with Yahoo falls into the radar. But, let’s think about this! Hey, if YOU collect data and use if for 6 months, and I collect data and use if for 6 months, and somewhere in there we USE it or TRADE it (because we can, as data partners, so long as we provide disclosure in our privacy policy to our users), then WE get to use that info for statistical relevance and purpose for a whole year! Poor old Google is still working on that six-month guideline thing. It always fascinates me how a company with such a cute brand name, like “Yahoo!” or “Bing” or “Google” could be such an "evil empire" in the shadows.
Privacy; don’t let it be too complex a subject so as not to get involved. Don’t think that Privacy Standards and Laws aren’t important to you!
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