Google and Facebook Can Read Your Mind

Go ahead and call me paranoid. Chances are, if you’re reading this, you know me and have already done so at some point. But seriously, am I the only person worried about this? It’s bad enough that the powers that be know how many times I’ve typed ‘fuck’ in the last hour…I don’t need them to know that I’m doing Google Image searches for James Franco as well.

Google defends its personalized services by saying that usage of iGoogle etc. is at the discretion of the user. Listen, just because I want Pacman on my Google screen doesn’t mean I want people to be able to screen and “customize” my searches.

I feel compelled to say that I don’t actually have Pacman on my homescreen; it was just an example. The most creative section of my iGoogle is the horoscope blurb.

Anyway, the defense goes something like this: if I have a history of having searched for the Eiffel Tower, when I subsequently enter “Paris” into the search engine, I will get results related to the city in France rather than a certain notorious home video. Seems practical enough. Still, I got to thinking- remember that scene in 1984 where they use Winston’s greatest fear (cockroaches) to torture him? Where did they get that information from, anyway? This philosophy seems like it’d make that job a whole lot easier…

Clearly this is all an exaggeration. I’m sure our friends at Google have honorable intentions…for now. Who would think to blame them, anyway, with that cute kid-friendly logo? But look at Facebook: these fun applications that are popping up were all developed by third parties. Everyone wants a piece of Facebook, and who can blame them? They’ve already brushed off $1 billion, not to mention it’s a fantastic way to break into the 18-25 demographic.

Too bad no one’s been able to successfully advocate the importance of voting within that age bracket. Hmmmph.

Going back to the point, there are nearly 700 members on the Facebook network (i.e. people who are employed by Facebook). The New York Times site has single-click functionality to allow you to post articles on your Facebook profile. On the train from Edinburgh to London, I heard three different people talking about posting pictures onto Facebook. It’s inescapable, and believe me, I tried to escape it for…I don’t even know, nearly three years? With this enormous base tied up in a “social utility” that is built up from personal information that so many people want (and so many are willing to post!), I find it hard to believe that privacy rights are given priority here. People will do anything if the price is right- upwards of a billion dollars, the promise of nubile virgins in paradise…you get the picture.

Maybe I’d be less paranoid if our government respected civil liberties. But as long as the mere mention of another 9/11 prompts people to forgo privacy in favor of ostensible security, the market will be ripe for firms willing to exploit that fear. And I doubt that every single one of the (nearly) 9,000 individuals working for Google and Facebook is exclusively motivated by his or her desire to maintain company integrity.

Right…I’m off to install the ‘Extended Info’ application to my Facebook profile.