Keep an eye on Google
How much does your Internet browser know about you? The answer is: even more than you could possibly know. Google recently announced a new advertising program tying consumers’ online behavior to purchases they make in stores.
Through its third-party partnerships, Google has access to 70 percent of U.S. consumers’ debit- and credit-card records. In the past three years of testing, it’s already measured 5 billion store visits. Google executives have heralded the program, which relies on machine learning, as “revolutionary” for both Google and for marketers.
The Electronic Privacy Information Center doesn’t think it’s revolutionary for your privacy.
EPIC, which has successfully challenged Google on privacy rights before, filed a complaint on Monday asking the Federal Trade Commission to investigate Google’s new program.
“Google refuses to reveal — or allow independent testing of — the technique that would make (the preservation of consumer privacy) possible,” wrote the nonprofit group in its complaint. “The privacy of millions of consumers thus depends on a secret, proprietary algorithm.”
In a statement, Google told The Chronicle it “invested in building industryleading privacy protections before launching this solution.”
The company has stated it doesn’t have access to names or credit card data for individuals. That data, presumably, remains with its partners. (Advertisers receive aggregate information that’s not specifically targeted to individuals.) But Google has not agreed to disclose which companies are providing it with transaction records, or which formulas it uses to protect consumer information.
So the organization is asking the federal government not to trust Google’s insistence on consumer privacy.
It wants the FTC to review the algorithms itself.
Google has opt-out policies for consumers on its site. (If you’re interested in opting out, go to “My Account,” click “Go to My Activity,” select “Activity controls” on the left, uncheck “Web & App Activity” and confirm by selecting Pause.)
Some of the legal wrangling may hinge on whether those policies are effective and transparent. It’s impossible for consumers to opt out of the third-party partnership activity, for example, if Google won’t share who its partners are.
But the larger issue is a simple one. How on earth can the FTC, or the public, evaluate the effectiveness of Google’s privacy protection if the company has declared its privacy program to be secret and proprietary?
This question is only going to grow in importance as more and more companies attempt to track a wider range of behavior. Companies don’t deserve more privacy rights than consumers.