Google and Privacy

On Wednesday, the FTC closed its investigation of Google for its collection of data from unsecured wireless networks that may have violated privacy rules.  Google’s changes to its procedures and policies address the FTC’s concerns according to a letter from the FTC to Google:  http://www.ftc.gov/os/closings/101027googleletter.pdf 

Google and Privacy

A video cartoon featuring Google's chief giving away ice-cream to snoop on children aired on a giant screen in Times Square today as a privacy group continued to hound the internet giant.

Consumer Watchdog took its gripes with Google to the centre of Manhattan, where it paid to have a "Don't be evil?" animated clip shown on a "Jumbotron" screen above the masses coursing through Times Square.

Full story

Last Class

The last class is Monday night, 31 May.

The class will go for about an hour, then we may go for a drink/pizza etc.

In this class, I can answer any questions that you may have.

We will also discuss legal issues concerning eBay and (if time) Facebook.

Please read:

• ebay User agreement
• ebay U.S. user agreement
• Privacy Policy
• U.S. Privacy Policy
• Rules About IP
• Prior Posts

Facebook, MySpace, Yahoo

Facebook, MySpace Messages Are Protected: Judge

A district judge has reversed a magistrate judge's ruling that fashion house Christian Audigier Inc. can subpoena the Facebook Inc. and MySpace Inc. communications of an artist who sued the designer for copyright infringement, finding that messages on the social networking sites are protected information.

Yahoo, Facebook Back Google In YouTube IP Case

Facebook Inc., eBay Inc., IAC/InterActiveCorp and Yahoo Inc. have urged a federal judge to rule against Viacom International Inc. in its copyright lawsuit against Google Inc. over video-sharing website YouTube Inc., arguing that a victory for Viacom in the case would hurt online commerce.

Privacy - Proposed New Law in U.S.A.

U.S. Representatives Rick Boucher (VA-09), Chairman of the Subcommittee on Communications, Technology, and the Internet, and Cliff Stearns, Ranking Member of the Subcommittee, released a discussion draft of legislation to assure the privacy of information about individuals both on the Internet and offline.

Details

Google Says It Collected Private Data by Mistake

"Google said on Friday that for more than three years it had inadvertently collected snippets of private information that people send over unencrypted wireless networks. The admission, made in an official blog post by Alan Eustace, Google’s engineering chief, comes a month after regulators in Europe started asking the search giant pointed questions about Street View, the layer of real-world photographs accessible from Google Maps. Regulators wanted to know what data Google collected as its camera-laden cars methodically trolled through neighborhoods, and what Google did with that data."

Full story in NYTimes

Following on from last week's discussion of Buzz, Google has now been sued by a user - see article.

One of the article links (Google - Bullying) is redirecting to the wrong article. This is the correct article.

Privacy

We have swapped weeks 3 and 4 of class, so Monday will be all about PRIVACY and will be taught by Carly.

During class we will be talking about a wide range of issues concerning privacy and the internet. To prepare, you can review the following:

Australian law

Office of the Privacy Commissioner - (Includes links to Privacy Act and Privacy Principles)

Australian Broadcasting Corporation v Lenah Game Meat Pty Ltd (2002) 208 CLR 199

Regulation

Internet Industry Association - (see Code of Conduct)

International Rights

Article 17 of International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights

Privacy Policies

See for example:

Disney Privacy Policy

Amazon Privacy Policy


Are they sufficient?

Cookies

Cookie Central



Workplace email / internet privacy

Workplace policies

Google

Articles regarding Buzz (already posted on blog)
Google Earth

Bullying

Online privacy

Use in litigation
Shopping

Solutions?

TrustE

Google falls foul of privacy once again

From JL:

See Brisbane Times article

It is interesting to note that once again Google has reached for the freedom of speech lever as the apparent universal panacea absolving itself of any and all responsibility for breaches of privacy.

I for one would have though that, as an American company, Google would have been well-versed in the notion that freedom of speech is only 'free' to the extent that it does not impose on, contravene or breach another person's legal rights.

If tertiary institutions have the capability of analysing work submitted by students for plagiarism through the use of algorithm programs, then surely the technical boffins at Google can devise some process whereby material submitted for posting to the web can be assessed.

In this particular case, it is difficult to embrace the Google's Code of Conduct "Don't do evil" as being anything other than a marketing slogan. For mine, aiding and abetting the doing of evil equates to the same thing. If Google is serious about corporate social responsibility, then I suggest it not just talk about it, but in the words of another multinational "Just do it!"

See also NY Times

The Law of Google 2010 (updated)

These are my notes for class for 1 March 2010. The class is "The law of Google". Have a look at these websites (and if you have a Google account, log in to that account first):

1. The breadth of Google.

Search
www.google.com
www.google.com.au
www.google.co.uk
www.google.ca
www.google.de
www.google.com.br
www.google.com.bd
www.igoogle.com
News
Images
Blogs
Maps
Videos
Books
Scholarly Papers
Finance
Custom Search, example: Leading Australian Law Firms
Syndicated Search and example and example
Directory
Products
Google Base

Google Squared

Alerts

Search tricks and tips
Internal search
Site Search
Site Map

Other Google Stuff
Toolbar and SideWiki
Google Accounts
Web History
Gmail

Google Wave (plus video here)
Photos: Picasa and Picasa Web
Chrome Browser
Blogger
Groups
Reader
Notebook
Calendar
Docs
Talk
YouTube

Buzz

Android

More information: Wikipedia
How Google Works
Google Sitemap

2. AdWords and AdSense: Google Advertising

A. Do these searches on Google, Australian Googleand UK Google and compare results:

• Noosa
• Hilton
  
• Q1
• cheap accomodation queensland
  
• flowers paddington
• the tallest building in brisbane is
• DSL-G604T
• Sony
• Harvey World Travel
• Harvey World Travel Insurance

Have a look at the two Google search interfaces on this page (http://www.cyberspac.com/Cyber_Law_and_Policy/Search.html) and do the same searches on both and compare the results.

B. AdSense

Look at the Google Ads on these websites:

• NY Times
• Van Gogh Gallery
• Brisbane Apartments and Reviews
  
• Cyberlaw and Policy and example article
• This Blog (look top right --->
  

More information on Adsense

C. Google Trends and Google Analytics
Also, Google Insights for Search

D. AdWords

• create Ad
• select Keywords, budget and display location
• people then click on your Ad.
  

Terms: pay-per-click (PPC); cost-per-click (CPC); cost-per-impression (CPM); click through rate (CTR)

KeyWord Tool and Tool

More information: Google Learning Centre

E. Other types of Google advertising
Maps

Local Maps

Local Directory

You Tube

F. Problems & Issues

(a) Pay Per Click Websites

Look at these websites:

• lawyers.com.au
• Red Balloons
• Brisbane.com
• boq.com
  

(What is legitimate? See RealSpanking and Jackassand UStream)

(b) Click Fraud
What percentage of click are fraudulent? See this story and here too.
Clickfraud is old news: Crack-down

(c) Trade Mark Issues
Google Procedure
ACCC Lawsuit: See here and here and here andhere(Google filed its defence on 17 November 2008.)
RescueCom Lawsuit
French Lawsuit
Geico Lawsuit and settlement

More information
Google Business Solutions

3. Legal issues and lawsuits

Book Search Lawsuit and here
Caching & Copyright: see here and here and here

Have a look at other Google posts on this blog: Click Here

google search tricks

Google, Privacy and Buzz

Google moved quickly to contain a firestorm of criticism over Buzz, its new social network, taking the unusual step of announcing changes to the product over the weekend to address privacy problems.

Late Saturday, Todd Jackson, product manager for Gmail and Google Buzz, wrote in a blog post that Google had decided to alter one of the most vehemently criticized features in Buzz: the ready-made circle of friends that Buzz gives new users based on their most frequent e-mail and chat contacts. Now, instead of automatically connecting people, Buzz merely suggests to new users a group of people that they may want to follow or want to be followed by. ....

NY Times blog

Critics Say Google Invades Privacy With New Service

SAN FRANCISCO — When Google introduced Buzz — its answer to Facebook and Twitter — it hoped to get the service off to a fast start. New users of Buzz, which was added to Gmail on Tuesday, found themselves with a ready-made network of friends automatically selected by the company based on the people that each user communicated with most frequently through Google’s e-mail and chat services.

Enlarge This Image

Google's decision to use e-mail and chat as the basis of a social network was unfair and deceptive, some critics claimed.

Related

With Buzz, Google Plunges Into Social Networking(February 10, 2010)

Times Topics: Google Inc.

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But what Google viewed as an obvious shortcut stirred up a beehive of angry critics. Many users bristled at what they considered an invasion of privacy, and they faulted the company for failing to ask permission before sharing a person’s Buzz contacts with a broad audience. For the last three days, Google has faced a firestorm of criticism on blogs and Web sites, and it has already been forced to alter some features of the service.

NY Times story

Challenges for Google

From The New York Times:

In Europe, Challenges for Google

On issues like privacy, copyright protection and the dominance of its search engine, Google is increasingly clashing with lawmakers and regulators.

http://s.nyt.com/u/ejr

Photos and Piracy

"Internet accessibility of images amassed by governmental organizations, commercial entities and individuals is the basis of novel privacy violation claims. However, Internet distribution of images of both individuals and private places collected from public places remains lawful."

Pictures From Public Places Not Private

Privacy and online shopping

"A company that provides payment services to online merchants has reached a settlement with the Federal Trade Commission over allegations it sold information about more than 1 million Internet shoppers without authorization."

Read more here.

A privacy issue?

"A woman who installed a spyware program on her husband's computer to record his online exchanges with another woman cannot use that evidence in her divorce proceeding, a Florida appeals court has ruled on an issue of first impression."

For more, click here. What do you think?