Steve Pociask - Google and us - Interview - Goldstein on gelt - April 2012

Is Google Watching You? Transcription of interview with Steve Pociask on April 16, 2012. Douglas Goldstein, CFP®, Financial Planner & Investment Advisor Steve Pociask is the president of American Consumer Institute Center for Citizen Research. In the past, he has testified before the congressional subcommittee for telecommunications and trade and consumer protection on broadband policy. Douglas Goldstein, financial planner & investment advisor, interviewed Pociask on Arutz Sheva Radio. Douglas Goldstein: You have written a piece about the issue of Google gathering a huge amount of information. Could you describe what the problem with this actually is? Steve Pociask: It’s a whole series of things that Google has done. Early on, I thought there were just mistakes or lapses, but after a while you begin to think it’s maybe a pattern of abuse. What is common is the information that’s being collected by cookies which are little files that are placed on people’s computers. It is supposed to help with convenience in your browsing but sometimes it collects other information like the sites you visited, but there’s been other lapses as well that Google has done in terms of collecting information. This includes literally driving down the streets and collecting information on WIFI and wireless networks like your ID and password and collecting medical information from consumers just driving down the street, for example. They said that what they were really doing was finding out where all the hot spots and WIFI spots were. They were sending vehicles with antennas to find these locations, and in the process they collected a lot of information that you don’t think they would want. One investigation involved a Canadian woman who had her medical records collected because they were getting transferred within her household. But periodically every time you sign on, there’s a little bit of information on the ID and password, and a lot of that was being collected, but it’s even more than that. They’ve collected a lot of other information, and they prevented consumers from opting out of this data collection in some cases by very sophisticated means. Douglas Goldstein: If you’re broadcasting your information outside your house, doesn’t Google have the right to accept it? Steve Pociask: Generally, that information should be encrypted. What we have here is a situation where Google is sophisticated enough to collect that information beyond that. This is information that the consumer is not putting out there publicly but is being collected. Douglas Goldstein: In the case in Canada, the woman had encrypted her network but Google somehow broke the password and got her information? Steve Pociask: They’re going through, picking up the encrypted information, and they’re sophisticated enough to unencrypt it, and we accept what the allegations are. There are a number of countries that are investigating what’s called the Street View service that they provide, and that’s when this was done. In general, don’t get me wrong. The cookie activity that happens, putting a little bit of information on the consumer in a small file that helps interact your browsing, can be very convenient because it helps you with the service. It allows you to come into a certain website you frequently visit and to visit it without having to go through a lot of steps. It remembers you. In the most recent incident, folks using Apple cell phones were using a Safari browser, and what happened was Google came up with a way of bypassing the ability for consumers to turn off that collection of information. What Google actually did was, essentially a work around to prevent consumers from opting out. What it amounts to is a trick work around where consumers thought that they had opted out of that data collection, but in fact they were having their data still collected. That’s the latest incident that Google did, and it may subject them to huge fine. Back in 2011, they had already settled the previous privacy practice with the FTC, where they agreed that going forward they could be subject to a $16000 fine per incident per day. This latest Safari work around could be some serious dollars. What Google essentially did was they subverted user privacy settings on Apple Safari and Microsoft Internet Explorer. At least, that’s what’s according to the Wall Street Journal. Douglas Goldstein: Isn’t what they’re doing illegal, in which case shouldn’t this be a criminal offense? Steve Pociask: It may in fact be so. That’s kind of up to the Federal Trade Commission to sort out, but Google settled what’s a serious investigation by the FTC last year and they agreed not to misrepresent its privacy practices. They have laid out an agreement in which they could be subject to its terms and a serious fine. They had supposedly agreed to a stronger opt-out status and that sort of thing. The problem with all this is that there may be a lot of serious damage from all this. I don’t know if any of this information has been used in some bad ways. And if we can’t get some of these folks in the industry to get in line with standard practices, the risk is that government is going to step through and try to regulate this thing, and the worst thing we could have is the government stepping in. My biggest concern is that Google needs to get into shape. In general, I’d worry more about government tracking us. There have been just so many lapses that we’re seeing in an ongoing pattern. Here’s another story. Google had what’s called a “Doodle for Google Contest,” where kids presented pictures and in the process, they collected the children’s social security numbers. Now, why would you do that? There are lots of different examples such as this, but in general, the data collection doesn’t have to be a bad thing. It’s there for our service, there for our convenience and our content, and it’s for a better experience. If some people really think it will give them a better ad so be it, but we also have to be careful about, “Hey look, if it’s out there, do I have an option to opt out? If I stop using the service, is it still tracking me? Then what happens to it? If Google has my information, is it going to be protected on the server somewhere or is it available to someone else?” On your Android phone, there’s a really nice Google app for navigation. What it does is it collects where you are and timestamps it. There was a period for several weeks or longer where that information was available on the web. Someone could see whether or not you’re at your house, or outside a suburb in Atlanta, and the next thing you know, someone is checking where you are. They did need your IMAP code, so maybe it would be your wife wondering where you were. Douglas Goldstein: If everyone’s sharing freely anyway, why should this be such a big concern? Steve Pociask: I think that is certainly the case for a lot of the younger folks. They do share a lot of information. To some extent, younger folks are also very sophisticated in what they do, who they allow in their network, and what they put out there. They know to watch out for creeps and that sort of thing too. There’s a level of sophistication there. I think in general, people really do care and I think the important thing is to provide consumers enough information to say, “Do I really care? If I don’t care about Google having my information and I like these services, it’s perfectly fine, but I should have an option to opt out if I decide not to.” Douglas Goldstein: Do you think they should have an option to opt out, or could you simply choose not to use Google? Steve Pociask: If you choose not to use Google, you’re still being tracked to some extent because those cookies could still be present. In some cases, it’s already on the device you’re using or when you add on a new software package, they will have an app on it from Google. That has happened to me several times, and it’s taking me several steps to get it off my computer. You don’t have to be very sophisticated to fall into this trap. It can take you several steps to get yourself off. It’s not simply a case of just not doing it. You need the ability to opt out of it and tell them that you don’t want your information collected. Then you’ll need to use Bing or some other search engine. You’ll have to use some other calendars or some other book service. Douglas Goldstein: Could you just tell people in general what the institute does and how they could follow you? Steve Pociask: We’re an educational research institute. We’re a think tank. We do studies on consumer issues and we put up a lot of our blogs, studies and other information up on our website and you can find it, www.theamericanconsumer.org. Douglas Goldstein, CFP®, is the director of Profile Investment Services and the host of the Goldstein on Gelt radio show (Monday nights at 7:00 PM on www.israelnationalradio.com. He is a licensed financial professional both in the U.S. and Israel. Securities offered through Portfolio Resources Group, Inc., Member FINRA, SIPC, MSRB, NFA, SIFMA. Accounts carried by National Financial Services LLC. Member NYSE/SIPC, a Fidelity Investments company. His book Building Wealth in Israel is available in bookstores, on the web, or can be ordered at: www.profile-financial.com (02) 624-2788 or (03) 524-0942. Disclaimer: This document is a transcription and/or an educational article. While it is believed to be current and accurate, divergence from the original is to be expected. The original podcast can be heard at https://sites.google.com/site/goldsteinradioshows/. All information on this website is purely information and should not be used as the sole basis for making financial decisions. The opinions rendered herein are those of the guests, and not necessarily those of Douglas Goldstein, Profile Investment Services, Ltd., or Israel National News. Readers should consult with a professional financial advisor before making any financial decisions. Please see the complete disclaimer at https://sites.google.com/site/goldsteinradioshows/.