{"id":908,"date":"2011-07-14T09:15:59","date_gmt":"2011-07-14T13:15:59","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www3.law.harvard.edu\/journals\/hlpr\/?p=908"},"modified":"2015-10-02T15:28:48","modified_gmt":"2015-10-02T15:28:48","slug":"google-privacy","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/journals.law.harvard.edu\/lpr\/2011\/07\/14\/google-privacy\/","title":{"rendered":"Google+ Privacy = ??"},"content":{"rendered":"
Jake Laperruque\u00a0<\/span><\/em><\/div>\n
<\/div>\n
Two weeks ago tech giant Google charged back into the social networking world with Google+.\u00a0 And while Google\u2019s past efforts to break into this field have ranged from\u00a0awful<\/a>\u00a0to\u00a0really awful<\/a>, this latest attempt seems to be an immediate success.\u00a0 In less than fourteen days and without even going public, Google+ has\u00a0already amassed 10,000,000 users<\/a>, a feat that took rival Facebook nearly three years (and\u00a0enough backstabbing to make an awesome movie)<\/a>\u00a0to accomplish.<\/div>\n
<\/div>\n
Even better, Google\u2019s new tool has been all the\u00a0Buzz<\/a>\u00a0(oh . . . too soon?) of the tech world.\u00a0 Rave reviews have been pouring in from tech commentators and the public; users are happy to have a social networking option with Google\u2019s \u201cDon\u2019t Be Evil\u201d creed as an alternative to Facebook\u2019s\u00a0somewhat more evil<\/a>resistance-is-futile style. \u00a0 Critics have also lauded Google+ for privacy features.<\/div>\n

<\/p>\n

But does Google+ actually live up to the privacy-friendly reputation it\u2019s rapidly been developing?<\/div>\n
\n

The Pluses:<\/span><\/strong><\/p>\n

Google+ does make a number of commendable privacy innovations, and perhaps the best is Circles, which let\u2019s you create groups and separate who you share what with.\u00a0 Circles does more than just stop you from awkwardly commenting on your Wall Post about getting plastered the previous night.\u00a0 By divvying up your information, it becomes much harder for schools, employers, and law enforcement to pry into your profile, something that quickly became far too easy for these organizations to do on Facebook.<\/p>\n

Google+ also deserves credit for its upfront privacy settings.\u00a0 Facebook was notorious for setting out new features with low privacy settings built in, leaving users exposed until they independently realized the problem and changed the settings, which were often buried\u00a0 inconvenient and unclear locations. \u00a0Google capitalized on Facebook\u2019s past problems, and made straightforward privacy settings a prime feature, allowing users to figure out exactly what they are making publicly available.\u00a0 Google+ even includes an easily accessible preview feature, which allows you to look at your profile from the perspective of various outside users (both in and out of your Circles), so you know exactly what you\u2019re putting out into cyberspace.<\/p>\n

Finally, Google+ includes an\u00a0easy process<\/a>\u00a0for fully shutting down your account.\u00a0 This has been another issue on which\u00a0Facebook has taken heat<\/a>, and with good reason.\u00a0 It\u2019s bad business practice to hold customers hostage, and even worse to keep their information in public against their wishes.\u00a0 The Google+ shutdown process allows users to completely delete all their information in a matter of minutes.<\/p>\n

The Minuses<\/span><\/strong><\/p>\n

However, Google+ is not perfect when it comes to privacy.\u00a0 First, there is the basic information collection; Google stockpiles your posts, comments, and likes, and uses them to build a profile for advertisers.\u00a0 But their stance on this is better than most; users can easily change their privacy settings so that outside advertisements are not affected by liking posts.<\/p>\n

Here\u2019s where things get stickier \u2013 according to the\u00a0Google+ privacy policy<\/a>,\u00a0\u201cWe may also collect information about you from other users, such as when someone puts you in one of their\u00a0circles<\/a>\u00a0or tags you in a photo.\u00a0 Some users may choose to display information about you publicly, such as by displaying your public profile name and photo on their Google Profile in a list of people they\u2019ve added to their circles.\u201d<\/em>\u00a0 This is troublesome because it takes your own privacy out of your hands, greatly diminishing the value Google+\u2019s user-friendly settings.\u00a0 And while Google does offer de-tagging, this response is like closing the barn door after someone\u2019s already walked in and photographed the whole place.<\/p>\n

Google+ also has privacy problems when it comes to geolocation.\u00a0 Also from the privacy policy: \u201cWhen using Google+ on your mobile device, Google collects your location to provide the service (such as to display nearby posts to you), as described when you sign up for the mobile version of the product<\/em>.\u201d\u00a0 Legislative measures are\u00a0already under consideration<\/a>\u00a0to limit corporate use of geolocation information.\u00a0 Until these measures become law, your location is constantly available to both law enforcement and private companies if Google chooses to hand it out.<\/p>\n

Finally, and perhaps worst of all, your creative works are unsafe on Google+.\u00a0 According to Section 11 of Google\u2019s\u00a0Terms of Service<\/a>, \u201cyou give Google a perpetual, irrevocable, worldwide, royalty-free, and non-exclusive license to reproduce, adapt, modify, translate, publish, publicly perform, publicly display and distribute any Content which you submit, post or display on or through, the Services.<\/em>\u201d\u00a0 This means any artistic work you post on Google+ is free reign for the company to use any way it wants.\u00a0 Artists, poets, and photographers beware.<\/p>\n

The Questions Marks<\/span><\/strong><\/p>\n

There are other privacy issues regarding Google+ that remain unanswer<\/a>ed.\u00a0 The largest right now concerns a\u00a0feature that allows others to spread your posts outside of their designated Circles<\/a>\u00a0by clicking a \u201cShare\u201d button (something that has already given the world\u00a0a private glance at Mark Cuban\u2019s college years<\/a>).\u00a0 The\u00a0question<\/a>\u00a0becomes whether we\u2019ll be willing to trust our Circles of Friends and Acquaintances to keep our secrets, and whether that trust will be well placed.<\/p>\n

The more long term\u00a0question<\/a>\u00a0concerns how Google+ develops.\u00a0 Most of Facebook\u2019s privacy problems did not come at its inception \u2013 when it was seen as the less-sketchy alternative to MySpace \u2013 but rather as it rolled out new features over time, paving the way for Google+ to jump in as a less-sketchy alternative to Facebook.\u00a0 Google+ has the potential to be the service that lets us move into the broad realm of cyberspace while still maintaining a sphere of privacy, but potential and reality are far different things.\u00a0 Until then, wait, watch, and keep a careful eye on who\u2019s watching you.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Jake Laperruque\u00a0 Two weeks ago tech giant Google charged back into the social networking world with Google+.\u00a0 And while Google\u2019s […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"site-sidebar-layout":"default","site-content-layout":"","ast-site-content-layout":"default","site-content-style":"default","site-sidebar-style":"default","ast-global-header-display":"","ast-banner-title-visibility":"","ast-main-header-display":"","ast-hfb-above-header-display":"","ast-hfb-below-header-display":"","ast-hfb-mobile-header-display":"","site-post-title":"","ast-breadcrumbs-content":"","ast-featured-img":"","footer-sml-layout":"","ast-disable-related-posts":"","theme-transparent-header-meta":"","adv-header-id-meta":"","stick-header-meta":"","header-above-stick-meta":"","header-main-stick-meta":"","header-below-stick-meta":"","astra-migrate-meta-layouts":"default","ast-page-background-enabled":"default","ast-page-background-meta":{"desktop":{"background-color":"var(--ast-global-color-5)","background-image":"","background-repeat":"repeat","background-position":"center center","background-size":"auto","background-attachment":"scroll","background-type":"","background-media":"","overlay-type":"","overlay-color":"","overlay-opacity":"","overlay-gradient":""},"tablet":{"background-color":"","background-image":"","background-repeat":"repeat","background-position":"center center","background-size":"auto","background-attachment":"scroll","background-type":"","background-media":"","overlay-type":"","overlay-color":"","overlay-opacity":"","overlay-gradient":""},"mobile":{"background-color":"","background-image":"","background-repeat":"repeat","background-position":"center center","background-size":"auto","background-attachment":"scroll","background-type":"","background-media":"","overlay-type":"","overlay-color":"","overlay-opacity":"","overlay-gradient":""}},"ast-content-background-meta":{"desktop":{"background-color":"var(--ast-global-color-4)","background-image":"","background-repeat":"repeat","background-position":"center center","background-size":"auto","background-attachment":"scroll","background-type":"","background-media":"","overlay-type":"","overlay-color":"","overlay-opacity":"","overlay-gradient":""},"tablet":{"background-color":"var(--ast-global-color-4)","background-image":"","background-repeat":"repeat","background-position":"center center","background-size":"auto","background-attachment":"scroll","background-type":"","background-media":"","overlay-type":"","overlay-color":"","overlay-opacity":"","overlay-gradient":""},"mobile":{"background-color":"var(--ast-global-color-4)","background-image":"","background-repeat":"repeat","background-position":"center center","background-size":"auto","background-attachment":"scroll","background-type":"","background-media":"","overlay-type":"","overlay-color":"","overlay-opacity":"","overlay-gradient":""}},"jetpack_post_was_ever_published":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_access":"","_jetpack_dont_email_post_to_subs":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_tier_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paywalled_content":false,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[2],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-908","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-blog"],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"jetpack_shortlink":"https:\/\/wp.me\/peZQka-eE","_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/journals.law.harvard.edu\/lpr\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/908","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/journals.law.harvard.edu\/lpr\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/journals.law.harvard.edu\/lpr\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/journals.law.harvard.edu\/lpr\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/journals.law.harvard.edu\/lpr\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=908"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/journals.law.harvard.edu\/lpr\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/908\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/journals.law.harvard.edu\/lpr\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=908"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/journals.law.harvard.edu\/lpr\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=908"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/journals.law.harvard.edu\/lpr\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=908"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}