Google ‘tricks you’ into thinking it cares about privacy

I share your exasperation that it has taken Google so long to offer you ways to request the removal of your home address and telephone number (Issue 631, page 6). In part, this has been a fault of the authorities. Lawmakers should’ve forced Google and other search engines to introduce these measures years ago, though the international nature of the internet makes such rules hard to implement.

It makes me think of something that rarely gets talked about or used these days: the BT phone book. It used to be a permanent fixture on the hallway desks of every home. If you didn’t want your number to appear in it, you could simply ask to be ex-directory. I always did that, year after year. When information was collated on paper there seemed to be a greater emphasis on privacy. But somewhere along the line the internet eroded that.

My theory is that about 25 years ago we all got so excited about the potential of the internet that we forgot to apply the old rules about privacy. Dazzled by this technology, we were blinded to the risks. It has taken us this long to shake off our complacency. The same principle also apples to online porn. Authorities are introducing mandatory age checks far too late.

The lesson we must learn is that deep down Google and other big-tech sites don’t care about your privacy. They’re not charities but moneymaking industries that rely on adverts, which in turn rely on analysing what you do online. Everything else they say and do is designed to trick you into thinking otherwise. Phil Hardman