Response to ken-woods.com
19-Mar, 2009
Dear Sdoownek:
First of all, thanks for taking the time to post such a thoughtful rebuttal! You rock. I consider you one of the most intelligent guys I know, but I’m afraid a few of your main arguments are flawed. After all, what I post is the truth according to me. ;-)
You’re correct in that this is an ethical and moral issue. I was more disappointed when I read the article than pissed off. Google makes such useful software, but it seems it’s simply a “front” to gather information. So, who cares? I do.
What are the moral rights granted to an company/organization if you choose to shop at their store or visit their website? Is there an expected right to privacy? Should there be? Is that reasonable?
Most high end department stores have dedicated personnel whose job it is to do nothing other than observe customers…….to figure out what they’re interested in buying. That information is then passed to their “personal shopper” (ie, required assigned, salesperson) How is that conceptually different than what Google’s doing?
If the store’s dedicated personnel where to follow me around the rest of the day, and 89 days after that (90 days is the default browser history in Firefox), I would have to think about taking legal action. The difference between the department store and what Google is doing is that the department store no longer knows what I do and where I’ve been the rest of the day after I leave the store.
You might be right about my perception of privacy. It’s actually about [the lack of] choice. I tweet, I write blog posts and purchased my own domain name because I chose to do so. In this case, I am given a choice, but my choice is reactive because Google thinks the ads I see on the web should be “more interesting.”
Google’s new “service” is opt-out and you know as well as I that your Dad, the average internet user, is (1) not going to go through the hassle of opting out, (2) going to opt-out, but have a difficult time doing so, or (3) say it’s not worth the hassle and become yet another stat that feeds the Borg.
In the end, Google will have a lot of information about a lot of poeple, on servers spread out all over the world. All I’m saying is that given recent events, it’s no longer just about “tubesteak.”
Talk to you soon, my friend.
20-Mar, 2009 at 12:00 am
[...] My response to penkapp’s response to to my response to him. 2009 March 20 by sdoownek Penkapp, [...]
21-Mar, 2009 at 6:05 am
Nerds complaining about Google, love it. Ooooohhh, the big, bad corporation! They’re gonna know what you, like, BUY!! Lookout! :-) Sorry, I’m being an ass for the sake of being an ass.
What DOES concern me is your March 19th reply to “shaniqua” below where your link to “more important things” was to the global financial crisis. Really? NOT http://www.premierleague.com? Where are your priorities Ken? Are you scarred because Man U got “Ike Turnered” by those scousers last week? :-) Gotta go, the Spurs/Blues game is on…
30-Mar, 2009 at 9:49 pm
ok, you convinced me to install NoScript (although I fear it’s far too late as They already know I’m a teacher and look at Patagonia stuff a lot), but I don’t get the options available – doubleclick.net? doclix.net? What does “allow” mean, that penkapp.com can script me, or just that I can see your blog? This techgeeko stuff is way over my head, obviously! but thanks for schooling us luddites anyway.
2-Apr, 2009 at 9:39 am
Using the settings I show in my post will allow scripts to run that ONLY originate from the site you’re visiting and gets rid of the yellow, annoying popup thingy.
When you get to a site, like Facebook or Youtube, they run a lot of stuff on their pages that originate from other places. When in Facebook, right-click on the NoScript icon and see if there’s a listing that says “Allow ytimg.com.” That’s Youtube. You may also have to allow facebook.com (or something similar) to get Facebook to fully work as well. Once you tell NoScript to allow, it will permanently add that site to your whitelist.
NoScript doesn’t just block Google tracking stuff, but all kinds of third-party nastiness that could potentially put worms, trojans, malware, spyware, keystroke loggers on your computer. Good luck!