FTC Chairman Jon Leibowitz discussed a few of his organization’s stances on privacy, market competition and other topics in conversation with Walt Mossberg at our D: All Things Digital conference on Thursday. May 31, 2012.
Browsing Posts in USA Privacy
May 21, 2012: Senator Ron Wyden (D-Oregon) spoke on the Senate floor about cyber-security and legislation being debated by Congress wherein he called for Congress to “write a cyber-security bill that protects American’s security and their fundamental right to privacy.”
Last week, Google was awarded a patent that would allow them to tailor ads to individuals based on varying environmental conditions. The ramifications are far-reaching, invasive, downright creepy.
Theoretically, this advertising would “be served on the basis of a sensor that detects temperature, humidity, sound, light, or air composition near a device,” says Loek Essers at PC World. That technology could be applied to laptops, digital billboards, kiosks, vending machines, and even smartphones. For example, if it’s 80 degrees and sunny out, a billboard might automatically flash an ad for an icy-cold beverage. Or if you’re placing a call during a concert, Google could automatically feed the background noise into an algorithm, spurring your phone to deliver an offer for album downloads or concert tickets based on your music tastes.
Whether or not Google ever uses the patent is still up for debate, but it is worrisome given Google’s history of targeted advertising in searches, search results based on location, and obtaining wifi data while gathering data for Google maps.
While Google says that if they ever use the patent they will allow users to opt out, how much information will be gathered by that point? Also, even if a user opts out, Google will, most likely, require that a user be logged in to an account owned by Google in order to do so. Thus, even though the individual has opted out, other tracking methods utilized by Google will still ensnare them.
No one can predict what Google will or will not do with this new patent. Understanding Google as a marketing company, however, should lead everyone to worry about the potential privacy implications in the use of such technology.
