Presented at the Information Days Congress 2007 (Society for Finnish Information Specialists) as well as at the NordIoD conference in Stockholm 2007

1. Should
little brother
not help
Big Brother?
- Google and the privacy issue
Pär Lannerö
Information Days 2007 Congress
(Society for Finnish Information Specialists)
Helsinki, October 18, 2007
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2. The old Big Brother
Supposed to bring order and security
• 12 000 surveillance cameras in
Stockholm (source: Fokus.se)
• Wiretapping
• Administrative databases
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3. The old Big Brother
Ca
wh
Ente
Walk
Pay
Exit s
Ente
Desc
Wait
Boar
Ride
Exit t
Exit t
…
Photo dobienet@Flickr
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4. The old Big Brother
Orwell did quite a good job!
Often state controlled
Often regulated by law
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5. The old Big Brother
…dangerous when…
- State is corrupt/evil
- Criminals get access
- Information disclosed by accident
- Information used or combined in
unintended ways
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6. The new Big Brother?
6

7. The new Big Brother!
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8. The new Big Brother!
So what?
I don’t worry
about Google
indexing all web pages! It’s a lot more!
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9. The new Big Brother
…knows what people search for
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10. The new Big Brother
…knows what you search for
What if your search history became public?
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11. The new Big Brother
…never forgets
хранить вечно
”Google confirmed that since its inception it had stored
every search query every user ever made and every
search result she ever clicked on. Google remembers
forever”
Viktor Mayer-Schönberger, Harvard, April 2007
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12. The new Big Brother
…knows what links you follow
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13. The new Big Brother
…knows how you move around on the web
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14. The new Big Brother
Photo: William Thibault. Used with permission.
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15. The new Big Brother
…knows when you’re late for work
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16. The new Big Brother
…can use your game playing style to make a psychological profile
Illustration: buggolo@flickr
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17. The new Big Brother
…knows your personal profile
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18. The new Big Brother
… can follow your conversations
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19. The new Big Brother
…knows what you subscribe to
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20. The new Big Brother
…knows what’s on your desktop
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21. The new Big Brother
…knows your current location
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22. The new Big Brother
…knows where you live
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23. The new Big Brother
…knows what path you chose
23

24. The new Big Brother
…knows what you’re buying online
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25. The new Big Brother
…knows quite a lot about you and me!
25

26. The new Big Brother
…knows how to combine data
”We may combine personal information collected from
you with information from other Google services or third
parties to provide a better user experience ”
http://www.google.com/privacy.html
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27. The new Big Brother
…is constantly expanding its range
Google OS
Google Cube
Google Grid
Google WiFi
Google Radio ads
Google TV ads
Google Gulp
…
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28. The new Big Brother
…is getting bigger
Illustrations: Logoogle.com
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29. The new Big Brother
…knows no limit?
Brain implant for faster search (Brin)
Identification of users by mouse movement patterns
Office on the moon (Google.com)
Google to buy Microsoft (Slashdot.org)
Larry Page for president
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30. The new Big Brother
…has a vision:
“organize the world's information
and make it universally accessible
and useful”
http://www.google.com/intl/en/corporate/
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31. But I like my Big Brother!
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32. Big Brother is playful!
Google’s first server. Photo: Stanford
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33. Big Brother is helpful!
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34. Big Brother is helpful!
Search engine provides useful results
- saving time
- making the web more useful
Tools are often well designed
- saving frustration
Some tools (Google Earth, Gmail…) are
pushing the limits of what can be done
- inspiring and fun
Very cheap tools, often free
- saving money
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35. Big Brother is doing much good!
No paid links in ”organic results”
– Google can be trusted!
Ads match queries
– ads are relevant to users
Ad word bidding
– good value for advertiser money
Advertisers pay only for clickthrough
– good value for advertiser money
No blinking, moving banner images
– respecting users’ attention and bandwidth
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36. Big Brother is popular with users
Invites (Orkut, Gmail, Analytics)
Teasing
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37. Big Brother is popular with employees
{ First 10-digit prime found
in consecutive digits of e }.com
Free food, bus and childcare
Techno elite
Managers earn 0$
20%
37

38. Big Brother is popular with owners
Source: Yahoo
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39. Big Brother isn’t evil!
“Don’t be evil.”
http://investor.google.com/conduct.html
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40. Big Brother isn’t evil?
40

41. Perhaps Big Brother isn’t evil
…but its data could end in the wrong hands
Legally Illegally
Patriot act, Odenberg, Echelon? Google-employees
Evil buyer of Google Eavesdroppers
Mistake/software bug
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42. Perhaps Big Brother isn’t evil
…but even in appropriate hands, easy data access isn’t always good
Who will ever get a job or a date
if a Google background search will easily reveal all our past mistakes?
Will people dare to express themselves
if everything is always recorded and made searchable?
Do you really want to know
what your doctor or babysitter looks like when she’s drunk?
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43. Perhaps Big Brother isn’t evil
…but some people think otherwise
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44. Who is little brother?
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45. Who is little brother?
…who is watching whom?
60 million camera phones in Europe
- sold in 2006 only
Source: http://www.gartner.com/it/page.jsp?id=498310
Photo: Matt Seppings
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46. Who is little brother?
Photo Zone41
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47. What can little brother do?
…avoid being seen by Big Brother?
Illustration: Linuxreviews.org
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48. What can little brother do?
… stop feeding Big Brother?
A
B
PageRank depends on little brothers
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49. What can little brother do?
…support lobby groups
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50. What can little brother do?
…vote for politicians who are aware
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51. What can little brother do?
If you can’t beat them…
…help them!
Integrity means wholeness
Better if Google gets ALL information - not just mistakes and embarrassing stuff?
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52. What can little brother do?
…get to know Big Brother!
”Epic 2015”
– how Google may take control over media
http://blog.outer-court.com/videos/epic-2015.html or Google for it!
”Master plan”
– privacy concerns
http://masterplanthemovie.com/
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53. Photo: Carte postale Suédoise, used with permission
Should
little brother
not help
Big Brother?
- Let’s at least be aware!
Pär Lannerö
The 13th Nordic Conference on
Information and Documentation
Stockholm University, Aula Magna, June 19, 2007
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54. About Metamatrix
METAMATRIX is a consultancy company focusing on information management.
We have experts in public sector management, information architecture and systems
development.
METAMATRIX Stockholm
Sveavägen 31
111 34 Stockholm, Sweden
Tel. +46 (0)8-506 533 00
Fax. +46 (0)8-506 533 99
METAMATRIX Örebro
Hällabrottet 610
692 92 Kumla, Sweden
Tel: +46 (0)19-575 470
METAMATRIX Göteborg
Kastellgatan 18
413 07 Göteborg, Sweden
Tel: +46 (0)31-761 03 30
We have several framework agreements (ramavtal) facilitating public procurement.
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