Google is watching
June 08, 2005 Edition 1
When Google's 19 million daily users look up a long-lost classmate, send e-mail or bounce around the web more quickly with its new web accelerator, records of that don't go away.
In an era of increased government surveillance, privacy watchdogs worry that Google's archive of internet activity could be abused.
Like many other online businesses, Google tracks how its search engine and other services are used and who uses them. Unlike many other businesses, Google holds on to that information for years.
Some privacy experts who otherwise give Google high marks say the company's records could become a handy data bank for government investigators who rely on business records to circumvent Watergate-era laws that limit their ability to track US residents.
At a time when libraries delete lending records as soon as a book is returned, Google should purge its records after a certain point to protect users, they say.
"What if someone comes up to them and says: 'We want to know whenever this key word comes up?' All the capability is there and it becomes a one-stop shopping centre for all these kinds of things," said Lauren Weinstein, an engineer who co-founded People for Internet Responsibility, a forum for online issues.
Google officials say their extensive log files help them improve service, fight fraud and develop new products, and unlike many other online companies, it seems willing to pay for the enormous storage capacity needed to save the data.
"If it's useful, we'll hold on to it," said Nicole Wong, a Google lawyer.
Google complies with law-enforcement investigations, Wong said. She declined to comment on the frequency or scope of those requests.
Google designs its offerings to minimally impact user privacy, Wong said. It doesn't share the information it collects from visitors with outside marketers. Employees must get executive approval before they examine traffic data, she said.
Google logs the numerical IP address of each computer that visits many of its sites, and deposits small bits of code known as "cookies" on users' machines to automatically remember preferences such as which language they use, she said. Users can reject cookies if they wish, but some services such as Gmail, Google's e-mail, will not work without them.
It's difficult to tie cookies and IP addresses to a particular person, Wong said. The IP address of a computer can change every time it signs on to the internet, and different services use different cookies so the company doesn't know, for example, that a particular Gmail user has visited the website of an abortion provider.
But in the absence of regulation, there's nothing to prevent Google from linking those cookies together in the future, said Chris Hoofnagle, who heads the West Coast office of the Electronic Privacy Information
Centre.
Some don't see Google's long memory as a bad thing.
"You wouldn't want them to throw away all the inquiries that have been done - that's like throwing away history," said Danny Sullivan, editor of the trade publication Search Engine Watch.
Weinstein doesn't think so.
"There's really no good reason to hold on to that information for more than a few months," he said.
"They seem to think that because their motives are pure that everything is OK and they can operate on a trust basis. History tells us that is not the case." - Reuters
