Search Engines and Your Right to Privacy
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Some recent events question the use of search engines to acquire information. In the great war of search engines and algorithms, index sizes and ad revenue, the major search engines are after anything and everything they can get their hands on. This should be of no surprise to anyone. In order to show users the best and brightest of the internet, the search engines have to have an intimate knowledge of the entire internet. In the process of collecting all that information, however, the engines come across some pages which probably shouldn’t be indexed.
Note that I said “probably” here. As with anything that is a judgment call, what one person considers acceptable is morally reprehensible to another. It’s the shades of grey that make this a bit harder to analyze.
CNET proved this when they published their article that mentioned a lot of personal information about Google CEO Eric Schmidt. In it, they wrote about his financial worth, his appearance, where he lives, and his hobbies. This was used in a piece designed to say that Google needs to take care of privacy issues, but it did have a chilling effect since Google refused media contact with CNET for about two months.
The CNET fiasco did not show us anything new. In fact, it showed two things that most take for granted. All of us know of stories where one tries to Google oneself and then marvels at the results. Searching my name produces all kinds of interesting results: from doctors to actors to hockey players, none of which are actually me. There are also plenty of stories where background checks for employment or tenancy involve that exact same procedure. This is especially true if an interviewer asks for applicants’ screen names or favorite websites. Most info can be found at websites not intending to be malicious, such as sports magazines reporting on college football, or the list of speakers at a conference. In essence, it shows that the information is out there, but it needs to be sorted. In a manner of speaking, we’re all private eyes.
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