I don’t know about you, but things have gotten pretty creepy around here. Personally, I’m ok with it. I’ve been getting served remarkably coincidental ads, not based on my web activity, I get those too, but there have been a few ads seemingly served just from data on my phone and conversation activity. For example, I was speaking to the babysitter when she arrived at the house about ordering pizza for my kids. The next email in my inbox was a coupon from Domino’s. How did they know that?! This is the world we live in today, an always on, always connected, convenience focused world driven by data. My data - and Google is the puppet master.
Shhhhh, they’re listening
Now I don’t know if Google is listening in to my phone conversations (more on that later), but they have crossed the line several times in their quest to gather more information about you and me. Just recently, in a case that was appealed by Google to the Supreme Court, “Google has admitted that its camera-equipped Street View cars inadvertently captured emails, passwords and other data from unprotected wireless networks as they drove by” (Chang, 2014). Oops. The Supreme Court refused to hear the appeal case by Google and upheld the federal court ruling. Google has agreed to delete the data collected.
There was also “Cookiegate,” where Google ended up paying $40M in fines in 2013 for allegations they placed unauthorized tracking cookies on people’s web browsers, essentially allowing them to bypass “the mobile Safari browser’s default “no third party cookies” settings” (Sterling, 2013). Another oops.
As it turns out, Google was accused of installing software that would allow them to listen in on conversations this past June. I knew it! It doesn’t take a wild imagination to realize Siri and “OK, Google” type functions could be configured to eavesdrop on command. With a release of a new version of the open source browser Chromium, this is exactly what happened. The browser was “stealth configured to send what was being said in your room to somebody else, to a private company in another country, without your consent or knowledge, an audio transmission triggered by… an unknown and unverifiable set of conditions” (Falkvinge, 2015). That’s a big oops.
Today, Google faces continued scrutiny regarding their use of data collected in relation to their free email service, Gmail. While users accept the terms and conditions to use this service, there is still a question of privacy for the sender. Did they opt in to have their emails sent to a gmail user scanned and indexed too? “Google responded that non-Gmail customers had no expectations of privacy when sending e-mails to people who did use the service” (Kelly, 2013). But just like Gmail users, Google’s patent affords it the ability to create profiles of non-users based on information collected from those emails (Epic.org, 2015).
No, it’s not free
Truthfully, I had not given much in depth thought to the ethics of data collection and privacy. It’s part naivety, ignorance, and indifference on my part. As a user of these services, and other data collectors like Facebook, Twitter, and LinkedIn, I receive immense benefits. There is an economic tradeoff that I have made, as well as have the other 500+ million users of Gmail. We all make our own choice to use these services.
English poet Robert Browning has a well fitting quote for how I see the relationship between data collectors like Google and consumers - “Ignorance is not innocence but sin” (Browning, n.d.). In the case of Google, reasonable effort should be made to inform users of how their data is used and readily provide opt-out functionality. Unauthorized data collection, as in the case of Google Street View is wrong. Their leadership can not be ignorant of how their teams create products and the related consumer data privacy implications. Consumers have a responsibility to take protective actions too. Remaining ignorant about the products and services you use does not indemnify you from responsibility. Consumers should research (read: “Google”) these products and learn how they collect and use their data prior to becoming a user. Google provides a very easy to use My Account sections, including a privacy check-up, which “will walk you through more steps one-by-one to make sure that you are sharing data you are comfortable with. It will also help you make sure your security and ad settings are up to date” (Thompson, 2015).
If you’ve been wondering what Google knows about you, log into your account and visit this website http://www.google.com/settings/ads/. This is the basis for how Google determines which ads you will be served in the course of using their platforms. You can customize your interests and also opt out here.
As both a consumer and a marketer, I benefit greatly from how Google collects data. If Google did not monetize their data, I would not be able to enjoy YouTube, Google search, and Gmail for free. These are tools I use almost hourly that make my life remarkably easier. These tools could not remain free without the monetization of data. What if you paid a transactional fee for every email sent or received via Gmail, or every Google search entry, or every cat video watched on YouTube? This might change your behavior, which would change the behavior of advertisers, who go where the eyeballs are going. It’s a cycle in which consumers play an active roll based on their behavior. As a marketer, the availability of data allows me to deliver targeted, personalized ads which consumers find useful. Aggregated website data allows for companies to not only monitor their website activity, but optimize for the best user experience. In my mind, everyone wins. For Google, they generated almost 59.06 billion US dollars from ads, which accounted for 89.5 percent of the online company's total revenues (Statista, 2015). Based on our behavior, I think the vote is in on how most of us really feel about data and the value we receive from Google in exchange. If Google crosses the line too far, the masses will vote again. Until then, they’ll keep pushing the envelope to provide more value.
The wave of the future
This is just the beginning. The Internet of Things(IoT) is a new tidal wave of consumer data. Over the course of time, another exchange will be made by consumers (including me) over a broader array of connected devices and things - more data for more value. The Altimeter Group recently conducted a survey called Consumer Perceptions of Privacy in the Internet of Things. Here are five of the key findings:
- Consumers’ top concern: Who is seeing my data?
- At least half of consumers expressed extreme discomfort with the use and sale of their data in connected ‘real world’ environments.
- Consumers want more information and more engagement around privacy
- Consumers demand value in exchange for their data
- Technological awareness informs trust and influences consumer expectations for engagement (Shah, 2015)
Looking back on the last 17 years of Google’s history, I think Larry Page and Sergey Brin would just nod their heads at Altimeter’s report and say, “I could have told you that.” IoT is just another link in the data value chain through which consumers and companies will navigate.
As it was back in 1998, IoT is kind of the wild west as we hear of Tesla’s and refrigerators being hacked. Over time though, security and encryption will catch up. Consumers have come to expect an optimal user experience through their years of web based experiences. Companies and marketers used their data to continually enhance this experience, creating value along the way. This same demand will propel the IoT evolution. “IoT devices learn about consumers by observing their habits, tendencies, and preferences as well as their environments (data). Learning is based on behaviors and phenomena in the natural, physical world as opposed to the strictly online world” (Weinberg, Milne, Andonova, & Hajjat, 2015). This is where it gets a little scary. IoT data is more closely related to me as a person, my health records, when I went to sleep, what time I come home, are my doors locked, am I at home, or is my daughter at home alone. “As IoT-related systems capture more of the entirety of a consumer's being in the form of data, it will be as if more of a person will be inside the Internet and is being passed around from machine to machine. Thus, respect for consumers’ being and their privacy is at the heart of the consumer experience with IoT. Consumers will consider and act on the tradeoffs associated with the conveniences offered by IoT and the costs and losses in privacy” (Weinberg, Milne, Andonova, & Hajjat, 2015). I’m still ok with it, but I won’t be an early adopter.
References:
Browning, R. (n.d.) Quotation details: quotation #29300. Retrieved from http://www.quotationspage.com/quote/29300.html
Chang, A. (2014, June 30). Supreme Court rejects appeal by Google over Street View data collection. Forbes Magazine (Online). Retrieved from http://www.latimes.com/business/technology/la-fi-tn-google-supreme-court-20140630-story.html
Epic.org (2015). Gmail privacy: FAQ. Retrieved from https://epic.org/privacy/gmail/faq.html#23
Falkvinge, R (2015, June 18). Google Chrome Listening In To Your Room Shows The Importance Of Privacy Defense In Depth. Retrieved from https://www.privateinternetaccess.com/blog/2015/06/google-chrome-listening-in-to-your-room-shows-the-importance-of-privacy-defense-in-depth/
Kelly, H. (2013, April 1). Why Gmail and other e-mail services aren't really free.
Shah, R. (2015, July 2). Do Privacy Concerns Really Change With The Internet Of Things? Forbes Magazine (Online). Retrieved from http://www.forbes.com/sites/rawnshah/2015/07/02/do-privacy-concerns-really-change-with-the-internet-of-things/
Statista. (2015). Advertising revenue of Google from 2001 to 2014 (in billion U.S. dollars).
Retrieved from http://www.statista.com/statistics/266249/advertising-revenue-of-google/
Sterling, G. (2013, November 18). Nearly $40 Million Later, Google Ends “Cookiegate” Scandal. Retrieved from http://marketingland.com/nearly-40-million-later-google-finally-ends-cookiegate-scandal-65578
Thompson, C. (2015, October 21). How to see everything Google knows about you.
Weinberg, B., Milne, G., Andonova, Y., & Hajjat, F. (2015). Internet of things: Convenience vs. privacy and secrecy. AMSTERDAM: ELSEVIER SCIENCE BV. doi:10.1016/j.bushor.2015.06.005
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