Google hypocrisy on privacy knows no bounds; also Monday Privacy event on GoogleDoubleClick

Submitted by Scott Cleland on Fri, 2007-09-14 13:50

Google calling for global privacy standards is like the fox guarding the henhouse calling for better chicken wire standards.

In a public relations ploy, Google, is now calling for international privacy legislation; see AP's "Google launches global privacy crusade."

It appears Google is finally cognizant that privacy is an issue they can no longer brush under the rug.
- Privacy International recently did a study which ranked Google the worst in the world on privacy, calling the company "hostile" to privacy concerns.
- EPIC and other privacy groups has filed suit with the FTC to block the Google-DoublClick merger charging Google's privacy practices constitute deceptive and unfair trade practices.

My analysis of Google's call for International privacy standards is that it is a transparent PR ploy to try and lead the protest march for the cameras while trying to distract people from the fact that the privacy "march" is actually heading directly towards Google headquarters.

Google is being too clever by half -- again.
It is obviously a tactic to try and say that Google would really really like to support better privacy, but its hands are tied until Burkina Faso and Leichtenstein can come to consensus with the other 200 odd countries connected to the Internet. Yeah. Sure.
This is an obvious tactic to create a privacy improvement process that is so complex it will never happen and a process that would take decades to achieve in a perfect world.

Every privacy advocate knows that if Google was truly serious about protecting privacy, it would simply step and lead itself with its own ACTIONS.

Absolutely nothing externally stands in the way of Google improving its privacy protections for consumers --
- except for Google's financial self-interest -- which is to maximize profit by secretly selling consumers' most private information to the highest bidder.

For those interested in learning more about privacy and what Google is not doing about it should tune into:

A privacy panel discussion on Monday Sept. 17th at 9 am EST at the National Press Club in Washington.
See below for details.

The National Press Club

First Amendment Room, 529 14th St. NW, 13th Floor, Washington, DC

1. Public Briefing - Session at Press Club

9 am - 10 am ET

An expert panel will review recent developments with onlineprivacy, including behavioral targeting, and the proposed merger of Google and Doubleclick. The panel will discuss the challenges to the merger and the various remedies that the Federal Trade Commission could impose to help safeguard Internet privacy and ensure competition.

Participants:

Amina Fazlullah, Staff Attorney, USPIRG; Lillie Coney, Associate Director, Electronic Privacy Information Center (EPIC); Melissa Ngo, Director, Identification and Surveillance Project, EPIC; Professor Joseph Turow, Robert Lewis Shayon Professor of Communication, Annenberg School of Communications, University of Pennsylvania. Author of Niche Envy: Marketing Discrimination in the Digital Age (MIT Press, 2006); Jeff Chester, Executive Director, Center for Digital Democracy. Author of Digital Destiny: New Media and the Future of Democracy (The New Press,

2007

2. Follow-up Press Briefing - Teleconference

12 pm - 1 pm ET

Call-in Information

Dial: 512-225-3050

Code: 65889#

CONTACT

Jeff Chester

Phone: 202-494-7100

Email: jeff@democraticmedia.org

REFERENCES

Google and Privacy