Web Trust?

Yesterday, I addressed the issue of a Privacy Tradeoff.

The slant I took was we have been giving away our private information for a long, long time and it’s not something we can reverse, nor should we fear it unless we are living a secret life that we don’t others to know about.

Today, let’s explore this idea of privacy from a different angle.

Seth Godin shares his thoughts that Google is jumping the shark by taking our information that we have given them and using it in ways that they supposedly didn’t do before.  Read what Seth has to say here.

Google has been consolidating the data they receive from all of the Google products and services and they are able to create a database about each of us that would blow your mind.

They know what you search for when you use their search engine.  They know where you go online when you use their Chrome web browser.  They know all about your behavior on your Android powered phones and tablets too.  They own YouTube and countless non-Google branded products & services.

We trust Google to be responsible with this information. Seth Godin however writes that the next step that Google is planning on doing is beyond being responsible.

I disagree.

There always is a certain amount of risk we take in life. And there are also plenty of risks that are injected into our lives.

5 days a week I drive 33 miles one way to work and the more than half those miles are driven on a two lane road traveling between 50 and 70 miles per hour.

I trust others on the road to drive responsibly.  When there is another car coming towards me, we both trust each other to stay in our own lanes and safely pass each other.  Otherwise it would be foolish to have two cars heading towards one another, resulting in an impact of a combined 100 MPH.  I also use caution at certain intersections because every week I see the potential for fatal consequences from cars and trucks running red lights.

We also travel on the superhighway known as the internet with a balance of trust and caution.

One more item to share with you and that is the most recent Facebook changes I mentioned yesterday.  Here’s a link to Kim Komando’s take on it.

But I repeat what I said before.  Unless you have something to hide, the issues of privacy and trust online shouldn’t concern you.