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The internet in its essence is a directory; a platform whereby users can access information and purchase goods or services. It provides a key asset for communication in the twenty first century. As time passes, society delves into the depths of the World Wide Web, immersing and embedding personal data within, enabling digital profiling and data surveillance on a global scale. With internet connections performing at even greater speeds, we are able to access further information and expose ourselves to this unforgiving environment. Recent statistics indicate that over 21% of the world’s population are actively online (Miniwatts Marketing Group 2008), and as technology advances and global corporations develop, the application of data mining techniques are without doubt becoming more common and sophisticated.
Has society become ignorant in respect of the electronic footprint that it leaves behind? Should society be concerned about the cause and effects of our individual actions online with regards to our privacy within the digital domain? More importantly should there be legislation in place to enable fully anonymous browsing and digital privacy online? Or is this even a genuine concern? David Smith from the Information Commissioner’s Office argues that ‘The cost to a person’s future can be very high if something undesirable is found’ (BBC 2007). Something should therefore be done to prevent any possible future catastrophes.
This research aims to investigate and question concerns relating to privacy online. Since the development of web surveillance technologies, the internet has seen the rise of many successful companies, but most notably Google Inc. Initially known only for its unique search engine algorithms, Google has innovated and acquired numerous web technologies and now dominates a 63% share of the search engine market (Peter 2008). Google.com is also ranked the second most accessed website in the world by Alexa (2008), and with its countless sub brands, for example, YouTube and Blogger, it would perhaps be correct to assume that almost everybody who has been online will at some point in time have used services provided by Google.
The underlying question asks whether society is giving away too much information relating to their personal lives. Whether users are logging onto Google to perform simple search queries or signing into their Gmail accounts, every click, search parameter and email that is read has been scanned, analysed and stored. This data, when processed, can be combined to compile complete digital profiles of individuals, becoming available to the provider to perform targeted advertising, significantly increasing revenue. Furthermore, this information has the potential to become damaging in the wrong hands. This thesis raises the awareness and the effects of using such services, with the new Google Android phone and preinstalled toolbars arriving on new computers, global forces such as Google are becoming escapable in almost every aspect of modern day life. Does society really want to forsake its privacy in the aid of better targeted adverts?
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Tags: blog, dissertation, google, privacy, time
