Google: Do No Evil or The New Evil

Everyone should be concerned with privacy issues on the web.  And unfortunately, Google products are not exempt from this concern.  For a company that once considered its unofficial motto “Do No Evil”, times may have changed and the company may be  “The New Evil” to many consumers worried about online rights and privacy.

Google Products and Data Collection - Consumer Beware

Google uses many of its products for data collection.  YouTube provides Google with user information in regards to video choices and searches, and when signed in with Google+, demographic information.  All of which is cross-referenced and used to create a user profile.  This is just one of the many ways data collection is used to create “virtual” consumers and users.

Organic search terms, online behaviors, and email tendencies are all used by Google to create ads that are more effectively targeted towards the user, offers that are based on previous purchases and searches, and Google preferences that are more appealing. Google users must understand Gmail, Google Search, YouTube, Google analytics, and other Google products are offered free of charge.  Yes, free, well maybe.  There is a price for everything and Google provides excellent free products in exchange for user data.  “Consumer beware”, with all of the great perks of Google, come a few minuses.  Online users must decide what they value the most, a great online experience, or their personal data.  

Gmail

Email has became a must have for most users and Gmail provides an excellent email program.  Google developed a robust and easy to use email program that millions of people use for their personal and business use.   Once a user uses their email program, it makes it very hard and often many times very expensive to make a change.  This has been done intentionally by Google to attract users and in turn, sell more ads.  Not only have they made their email user friendly, they have developed Google documents, Google maps, and have integrated their tools into smartphones (Kang, 2012).  Once again, with such a great service, comes a price and another “consumer beware” - users must understand privacy policies and adjust accordingly when using Google services.

Online Discrimination

Has Google’s mass amount of information gathering lead to online discrimination?  Google analytics provide both in-depth and basic user analytics.  Device usage is a fairly basic metric within Google analytics, but when used by certain companies, this metric is anything but basic. 

The Orbitz controversy is a great example how companies can use basic metrics in ways that effect consumer and often promote user discrimination.  Orbitz Worldwide used information gathered from online behaviors to conclude that individuals who use Apple’s Mac computers spend as much as 30% more a night on hotels than other device users.  Using this information Orbitz chose to use real time analytics to make room choices that will appear available to the user.  And, as you guessed, Mac users were presented with rooms that were 13 percent more expensive than PC users after this information was analyzed.  The company is also using the device metric to present specific hotels to different device users.  This decision is based on the information gathered from user bookings and type of device used (Mattioli,2012). 

In the case of Orbitz, is this discrimination or proper market segmentation?  As a Mac user, I was put out with this finding, but as a consumer, a company that can eliminate choices that I would not make may save me time and effort, but not money in this case.  This also led me to question the ethics involved with data collection and analyzing.

Ethical Concerns

Is the information gathered by Google about its users ethical?  It seems to me we are headed toward a world where there is no privacy.  But are companies like Google the problem or are the users who provide the information at fault?  I believe the blame lies with both.  Google actually knows more about us than many of our closest friends.  Google has every email you have sent or received, every event you have posted in calendar and every search you have made.  They also have all your pictures or documents you have stored on Google.  Users have to be proactive and demand a clear and easy to understand privacy policy (Ghitis, 2012).  Users should also have a way to opt out of having to provide information they see is too personal.   The bottom line is that users must proceed with caution and use their best judgment before giving out their information when choosing to use Google’s products. 

The Future of Google

Google recently purchased DeepMind, a company that specializes in artificial intelligence.  Soon after the purchase Google decided to form an ethics board to make sure artificial intelligence will not be abused.  This may be a good decision, but it should also make users of Google a little nervous.  This sends the message that Google feels artificial intelligence could be abused and its uses must be carefully thought out.  This new technology allows for computers to begin thinking more like humans (Tsukayama, 2014).  A technology many feared for years may be upon us soon with the help of Google. 

As a consumer and computer user, I must respect the advances Google has made over the years and I am curious to see the advances Google will make in the artificial intelligence field. But until then I will be content knowing my information is being used to tailor websites and ads to my interests and to make my vacation 13 percent more expensive than PC users.  Thanks Google.