4/29/2012
Moral Theology

Final Paper – Online Privacy

One of the most fascinating things in the twenty first century has to be the internet. We rely heavily on to for our news, entertainment, gaming, research, school work, shopping and pretty much anything that you can think of can be found on the internet. It has had such a large impact on our lives, but at what cost has this come to the user. What is really going on in the background of websites, are we being followed and tracked to just be sold off as a product to a marketing company. Many companies such a Google, Facebook, Microsoft, Yahoo, Twitter, and Apple all participate in the data collection. This data can be found as a cookie, a post, tweet, search, or an account that you may have with any of these particular companies. Each of these companies states their reasoning for tracking and it always comes down to providing a better experience.
I believe that it is ok for companies such as Google, Facebook, Microsoft, Yahoo, Twitter, and Apple to track our searches and compile data about us as long as they keep the advertising online. Once they invade our home life such as phone calls and direct mailing, then I believe that they have gone too far. Nothing is ever truly free these companies are in it to make money and they make considerable amount of revenue from using our information to advertise to use. For now I will enjoy the free services that Google, Facebook and many other sites have to offer.
Google the world’s largest search giant has over 1 billion searches per day. (Google, 2010) Google is almost as well-known as Coca-Cola and the users of Google use it daily but what is the cost that these users are being charged. According to Google’s Policies “We collect information to provide better services to all of our users – from figuring out basic stuff like which language you speak, to more complex things like which ads you’ll find most useful or the people who matter most to you online.” (Google, Google Policies and Principles, 2012) This information is then collected by two types of ways. The first way that they collect data is by the information the user provides by either creating a Gmail account you simply put you name and contact information. If you buy something through Google you will need a Debit or Credit card, that will have to have your billing address, your name, your bank account information and your buying habits. They just simply acquired a wealth of knowledge from you by just purchasing one item. The next method that is used is by directly tracking what you are searching. If you search something in Youtube which is subsidiary of Google they now have a clue in what types of music you listen to and they can now advertise to you on the search screens in Google when a particular band may be in your area or a ticket website. With the growth in mobile technology now more and more people have smartphones which are internet capable and Google has a certain way that they may track your searches by. “We may collect device-specific information (such as your hardware model, operating system version, unique device identifiers, and mobile network information including phone number). Google may associate your device identifiers or phone number with your Google Account.” (Google, Google Policies and Principles, 2012) With this information they can tell the exact type of phone you are using whether it is an iPhone, Android or Window Phone even tablets and iPads. They also now have what type of Carrier you use such as Verizon, At&t, or Sprint. The main reason is why does Google track this information and they explain specifically that “We use the information we collect from all of our services to provide, maintain, protect and improve them, to develop new ones, and to protect Google and our users. We also use this information to offer you tailored content – like giving you more relevant search results and ads.” (Google, Google Policies and Principles, 2012) I believe that for Google to use this information is fine with me. In the past couple years Google has recently added many new features that I believe are meant to help the user but also generate new revenue streams for Google. Some of these new apps consist of Google Play which is a cloud music service which can be accessed anywhere from an internet enabled computer to any android phone. Google books is a service that will allow you to view ebook’s online for a nominal fee but they also give you certain pages that are free to view. Google Documents is a app which allows you to create and backup your documents and also allows you to access them anywhere with an internet enabled computer. Google translate which will help you translate anything to any language. One of the most useful is Google Navigation because it gives you real-time traffic so it saves me time since I have the ability to choose and alternate route before hitting traffic. These are all developments that Google has made in their services that they now provide. They would not have likely come to be if Google never track the data in their services. I use almost all of the new services regularly and I believe that they have saved me a lot of time. This is why I feel no problem in Google tracking the searches that I perform in their services, since it is their services that have been saving me time. Facebook the largest social network tracks every post, like, photo upload, tag and poke that a user does. They will also add what data other users add to your profile. Facebook has more than 845 million users as of December of 2011 of those over 483 million of them use the site daily with another 425 million of the them accessing the mobile app daily as well. (Facebook) Facebook is used by almost everyone including fortune 500 companies, high school students, college students, and adults. With such a wide variety of users there is tons of money to be made on advertising since each users profile can be advertised to individually by the information collected. Some examples of information that is collected is groups you are members of, companies that you like, games you play, your demographics, and age. According to Facebook’s privacy page they explain they obtain information on a user in four different ways. The first is registration information where you provide your name and email address. The next is Information that you share which is information you post or add such as networks, birthday and friends. The next is Information that others share about you which could be a post, picture upload and apps you may use. The last is the most troubling to me since is say “Other information we receive about you” this includes things such as your current location which is tracked through your IP address of the internet connection and other things as well. (Facebook, Infomation we recieve and how it is used) With such a wide variety of information collected what do they do with this random pieces of information. On the Privacy page they explain that “We use the information we receive about you in connection with the services and features we provide to you and other users like your friends, the advertisers that purchase ads on the site, and the developers that build the games, applications, and websites you use.” (Facebook, Infomation we recieve and how it is used) On their website they mention that the key feature is to keep Facebook safe and secure. Facebook is a great site to get in touch with lost friends family that lives far away or to just get caught up on what is happening. I see no problem with Facebook tracking information that may be posted since it is another free service that has become so widely known about. The ad’s that are used to target me are based on the products that I liked or viewed their Facebook page such as BestBuy since I enjoy new technology the majority of ad’s that I see on my profile are computers, phones, and mostly electronics. I also feel that this helps me at the same time by seeing new products that may be coming out soon. Thought I will not purchase them Facebook is helping me stay informed of the new technology that is coming out. I believe that giving up a little bit of information about myself is a small risk to pay for a service that allows you to upload unlimited supply of photo’s, videos and other things. Along with keeping in touch with my friends and family.
Microsoft one of the world’s largest software distributer and Online gaming providers probably collects the most information from its users from their software division. Commonly known as Windows, this is Microsoft’s Operating System for computers it accounts for almost 90% of all computers in the world. (ComputerWorld) This is a company that requires user data to help improve and provide the user with a better experience. In my personal opinion the Operating System is the most important aspect of the computer and without tracking data and user feedback improvements will never be made updates will be worthless and the users interfaces will be harder to understand. Under Microsoft’s Privacy Policy the say “In order to offer you a more consistent and personalized experience in your interactions with Microsoft, information collected through one Microsoft service may be combined with information obtained through other Microsoft services. We may also supplement the information we collect with information obtained from other companies.” (Microsoft) With every error that occurs on your computer and every error that is processed and corrected, provides the user with a better experience. Collecting that kind of data is crucial for a company such as Microsoft since it is a product that must be purchased. If they want repeat customers they will need to ensure that their products are exactly what the consumer wants unlike Google or Facebook who offer free services since there is no product to purchase a profile on those sites are free. Microsoft uses this same technic across its other platforms like Microsoft Office and Xbox live all of these are products that are routinely updates and also new features are added. A perfect example is that Windows 7 a product that was designed with what the users wanted. On their Privacy site they say “Microsoft collects and uses your personal information to operate and improve its sites and services.” (Microsoft) Windows 7 was created from all the data that had been collected from all the other older operating systems such as Vista and XP. This data was then used to create a new product which what the users wanted. I believe that this was a very successful plan that Microsoft employed with the data that they collected since the product came out great. It incorporates the best features that I wanted as a user to help streamline the process of using a computer.
Like Facebook, Twitter focuses more on what’s on your mind; this allows the user to just give a brief description about how they feel at any given point. They also act the same as Facebook where they collect data such as email, name, password, cell phone number and where you have the smartphone app. Twitters privacy page mentions that “Like many websites, we use "cookie" technology to collect additional website usage data and to improve our Services, but we do not require cookies for many parts of our Services such as searching and looking at public user profiles or lists.” (Twitter) From here you can tell that in order to use the service cookies are required. So for every tweet that you post that data will be saved by twitter to help them collect information about yourself. Since Twitter is only status updates it doesn’t have the potential to generate as much information as a site like Facebook has. Twitter is a neat way to tell everyone how you are at one point in time but it is also a free service and I still think that for them to keep cookie data that it is perfectly fine because they are improving the user experience.
The last major company that does a considerable amount of tracking data is Apple. Many of Apple’s products do a considerable amount of data tracking for them to help them improve their product like Microsoft. Much of Apple’s data comes from the Apple Id which contains your name, products you purchased, credit card number, and billing address. On the Privacy Page they explain how they use the data “The personal information we collect allows us to keep you posted on Apple’s latest product announcements, software updates, and upcoming events. It also helps us to improve our services, content, and advertising.” (Apple) This information is crucial to keeping their products the best that they can be for the consumer. Apple also uses cookies on their website “Apple’s website, online services, interactive applications, email messages, and advertisements may use “cookies” and other technologies such as pixel tags and web beacons. These technologies help us better understand user behavior, tell us which parts of our website people have visited, and facilitate and measure the effectiveness of advertisements and web searches.” (Apple) These are used to help improve the way the user access’s their website allowing for a easy access of a product that they wish to use. Apple has taken this to another level with the development of the iPad and iTouch. Both use cookies to help apple know what the user is accessing the most and that will in turn help them improve a new product or issue a new update. This is essential to the survival of company such as Apple and Microsoft since the products that they make require so much user data and the only way to further advance a new product is to find what the user wants.
In Conclusion I believe that it is entirely up to the user. If they feel that the information that companies are collecting about them is something that they don’t want, then they should simple avoid using any of these services. Personally I believe that they are doing it to make money and in the process if I need to give them some information about myself for a good free product I feel it is a fair trade. I feel this way because I can simply ignore the advertisements that are geared towards me. Google is a great search engine that also offers many other products that I enjoy to use, while Twitter and Facebook are great social networks for getting in touch with friends and family. Microsoft and Apple both make great product that are only great because of the data that they collect from users to help update and improve their products. All of these services are great in my opinion and I will continue to use them knowing that I’m being tracked.

Bibliography
Apple. (n.d.). Apple's Privacy Policy. Retrieved from www.Apple.com: http://www.apple.com/privacy/
ComputerWorld. (n.d.). Windows market share dives below 90% for first time. Retrieved from www.computerworld.com: http://www.computerworld.com/s/article/9121938/Windows_market_share_dives_below_90_for_first_time
Facebook. (n.d.). Facebook newsroom. Retrieved from www.facebook.com: http://newsroom.fb.com/content/default.aspx?NewsAreaId=22
Facebook. (n.d.). Infomation we recieve and how it is used. Retrieved from www.facebook.com: http://www.facebook.com/about/privacy/your-info#inforeceived
Google. (2010, 9). Google Intenet Stats. Retrieved from google.com: http://www.google.co.uk/intl/en/landing/internetstats/
Google. (2012, 1 4). Google Policies and Principles. Retrieved from www.google.com: https://www.google.com/intl/en/policies/privacy/
Microsoft. (n.d.). Microsoft Online Privacy Statement. Retrieved from www.microsoft.com: http://privacy.microsoft.com/en-us/fullnotice.mspx
Twitter. (n.d.). Twitter Privacy Policy. Retrieved from www.Twitter.com: https://twitter.com/privacy