“J. Edgar Google”

by on July 7, 2008 · 9 Comments

Too funny. Anti-Google gadfly Scott Cleland has coined a hilarious new name for the company to highlight his privacy concerns with the search giant and its business practices. My chief concern now is . . . Which executive do we suspect of being a cross-dresser?

Cleland has a point. Foremost, I think, the judge that ordered Google to disclose a great mass of YouTube viewer information is being cavalier with the legitimate privacy concerns in a data-dump that big. I don’t share Berin’s confidence that a protective order will control access to, and uses of, this information. Data is so, so volatile.

But the judge is in a position to rule like this because Google collects and keeps so much information.

I have complimented Google on good practices in the past, but the modesty of the steps it has taken to protect user privacy is showing. At the time, their niggardly protective efforts forced them to try importing shades of gray into a circumstance that is black or white: They said their logs were “much more anonymous” than before, rather than flatly anonymous.

Well, they’re ‘not very anonymous’ if they have IP addresses and usernames in them, are they. But Google also boxed itself into a corner by arguing elsewhere that IP addresses aren’t really personally identifiable information.

“We . . . are strong supporters of the idea that data protection laws should apply to any data that could identify you. The reality is though that in most cases, an IP address without additional information cannot.” (‘Sure, we love the heavy regulatory regime you’ve got going because we love privacy, but let’s not include IP addresses, mkay?’)

The modesty of its protective steps, and the company’s go-along get-along approach to regulators in Europe (+ would-be Europeans here in the States), are coming home to roost. Instead of taking great strides to protect privacy and telling regulators to just back off, Google has taken small steps and tripped over its shoelaces.

‘J. Edgar Google’ has created the circumstances in which a judge can require them to hand over lots of personally identifiable user data. It’s a situation in which few people believe they will be protected.

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Evolving Theory of Network Effects

by on July 7, 2008 · 3 Comments

Should antitrust enforcers be concerned about entry barriers in the search ad market? Some believe the market exhibits “network effects,” according to the New York Times.

Although traditionally applied to Industrial Age industries with high fixed costs like railroads and telephone exchanges, anything now exhibits a network effect if its value increases because more people use it. Network effects are “everywhere,” according to a top former antitrust official. Coke and Pepsi drinkers, for example, “benefit from the network of their fellow consumers because Coke and Pepsi are widely available in restaurants and in vending machines,” claims Timothy J. Muris.

A preexisting network of vending machines is admittedly tough for soft drink imitators to replicate. But a barrier to imitation can also be viewed as a spur to innovation because it acts as a reward which inspires creators and investors. Not an incentive to create a barely distinguishable alternative, to be sure, but to create something transformative.

The alleged network effects in search advertising are more subtle than in the case of railroads, telephone exchanges or soft drinks (in fact, they even bear a striking resemblance to what one might also term legitimate and hard-won competitive advantages).
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Wood in Popular Culture

by on July 7, 2008 · 2 Comments

The power of xkcd:

And yes, I found that because I was also contemplating the addition of some “useless ‘wood in pop culture’ section additions.”

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Putting Politicians First?

by on July 5, 2008 · Add a Comment

Over at the new WashingtonWatch.com blog, I’ve got a new post up called “Putting Politicians First?“.

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More on Randy Vanderhoof and Privacy

by on July 5, 2008 · Add a Comment

Who is Randy Vanderhoof, you say?

More than a year ago, I posted here about a quote Randy Vanderhoof of the Smart Card Alliance had given to Federal Computer Week:

Privacy concerns are all perception and hype and no substance but carry considerable weight with state legislators because no one wants to be accused of being soft on privacy.

Though I’m not sure, I have a vague recollection that someone from his organization called me up or emailed and explained that he was misquoted. All a misunderstanding.

So I was interested in a Q&A Randy Vanderhoof had with David Pogue of the New York Times recently. Asked about the obstacles to adoption of smart cards in the U.S., he said:

It’s the business rules and legal barriers that are the biggest obstacles to overcome, and some cultural norms have to change as well, like the privacy advocates who don’t trust any technology that touches their identities (especially if the government is somehow in the middle).

There may be some privacy advocates that don’t trust any technology touching identity, but maybe it’s that all the technologies touching identity yet seen fail to meet the demands of the public for privacy and data security – especially if the government is in the middle.

I’m all for changing cultural norms. The dismissive culture at the Smart Card Alliance seems to be the right place to start.

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Two Declarations of Independence

by on July 4, 2008 · Add a Comment

Today we should remember not only Virginia planter and lyricist of American libertarianism Thomas Jefferson’s 1776 Declaration of Independence, but also Wyoming cattle-rancher and Grateful Dead lyricist John Perry Barlow‘s 1996 Declaration of the Independence of Cyberspace. While everyone can find something to quibble with in it, especially given the changes of the last twelve years, Barlow’s Declaration remains the best creed of Internet Freedom yet written. Now more than ever, as Internet regulation gathers steam under the banner of preserving “Net Neutrality,” it is well worth re-reading as a stirring call against regulation:

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Judge Orders Google to Turn Over YouTube Viewer Records

by on July 4, 2008 · 3 Comments

In case you’ve been in a pre-holiday daze this week, the blogosphere has been atwitter (not to mention a-twittering) with the news that the Hon. Louis L. Stanton, the Federal district judge presiding over Viacom’s massive copyright infringement suit against YouTube has ordered Google, which owns YouTube, to turn over its viewership records (12 terabytes).  Most notably, TechCrunch’s Michael Arrington has called Judge Stanton a “moron” for failing to appreciate that “handing over user names and a list of videos they’ve watched to a highly litigious copyright holder is extremely likely to result in lawsuits against those users that have watched copyrighted content on YouTube.”  Whatever one thinks of the Viacom v. YouTube/Google case, Arrington’s concern is misplaced (if not hysterical) and his logic betrays his ignorance of how litigation actually works.  Continue reading →

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GOOGLE FAKES COMPLIANCE WITH PRIVACY LAW. OBSCURE BLOGGER DEMANDS INVESTIGATION. DEVELOPING . . .

by on July 4, 2008 · 8 Comments

Google has changed its homepage, providing a link to its privacy policy “Privacy Center” on the homepage. So ends one of the highest dramas to grip the privacy world in a generation. I’m being facetious.

On the Google Blog, Marissa Mayer explains how Google has long been careful not to crowd its homepage – and remains so: they took a word out before including “privacy” – ummm, actually “privacy”. Google had come under fire recently for not having a link to its privacy policy on the homepage, a triviality that I wrote about here and here.

Would that this were the end of Google’s privacy troubles though. It is still a fiendish violator of the law. The facetiousness continues.

The privacy legislation California passed in 2003 requires a thing that Google still contemptuously refuses. Google must “conspicuously post” its privacy policy on its Web site, yet it has decided that it will not, flouting the will of the people’s representatives.
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Obama Foundering on Telecom Immunity

by on July 4, 2008 · Add a Comment

Via C@L, Glenn Greenwald has thoroughly fisked Senator Obama’s most recent statement on FISA and immunity for telecom providers.

It’s more and more clear that Obama has flip-flopped, reversed course, sold out, and whatever else you want to call it.

Obama himself set high expectations about standing for something, being different, and getting away from “politics as usual.” It didn’t take long for him to demonstrate that he is a typical, disappointing politician.

Does he have time to reverse course again, redeem himself, and build back support? Or has he already handed the election to McCain?

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WashingtonWatch.com Blog Debuts

by on July 4, 2008 · Add a Comment

Happy Fourth of July everyone!

“What better way to celebrate the founding of our nation than . . . um, by . . . blogging?” So begins the introductory post of the new WashingtonWatch.com blog.

The blog will tie the bills in Congress to the day’s headlines, discuss the bills being debated on the House and Senate floor, and reveal some hidden stories. Readers of TLF will understand this line from the opening post all too well: “Oh, there’ll be jokes – and I’m telling you right now they’re not all going to be funny.”

On the more serious side, the first substantive post tells the the inspiring story found on WashingtonWatch.com of an Army NCO who has taken Iraqi interpreters into his home. They served the U.S. military in Iraq and received special visas to come to the United States. He has helped them make their way in the U.S., and awaits three more who are on waiting lists, simply because “it’s the right thing to do.”

Check out the WashingtonWatch.com blog. If you want to subscribe to the RSS feed straight away, it’s here.

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