Michael Zimmer.org

Today, a six page letter was sent to Google’s CEO, Eric Schmidt, asking Google to honor the important privacy promises it has made to its customers and protect users’ communications from theft and snooping by enabling industry standard transport encryption technology (HTTPS) for Google Mail, Docs, and Calendar.
The open letter is signed by 38 researchers and academics in the fields of computer science, information security and privacy law — myself included. The letter was spearheaded by Christopher Soghoian, a computer researcher, programmer and privacy activist, and it has already received …

Google’s Street View product has been criticized by privacy advocates since its very inception, including various posts on this blog. Two years after its release, Google continues to face challenges over its collection and treatment of potentially personally-identifiable images of people in public spaces.
Most recently, Germany has noted that Google’s (reluctant) blurring of faces and license plates is not enough, demanding that the original images themselves be permanently removed from their databases. Google argues that the original images are necessary to help the system “learn” how to automatically blur better …

I’ve written frequently about how the shift from accessing information in offline spaces to online spaces has particular privacy implications. For example, strikingly different privacy norms and expectations emerge when comparing information-seeking activities in libraries vs. bookstores vs. Google Book Search.
Today, Fred Stutzman revealed a particularly troublesome example of how relying on the “My Library” feature of Google Book Search might mean you have even less privacy with regard to your online intellectual endeavors:
I was shocked to find out that saving a book to your library requires that the book …

News reports indicate that Google will begin providing free music downloads in China.
Apparently Chinese Internet users have grown so accustomed to downloading music online, that piracy and illegal downloading has impacted music sales there more than even what the RIAA claims to be such a huge problem here in the U.S. Relatedly, Google has been struggling to take market share away from Baidu, the leading Chinese search engine.
The win-win solution seems to be for the music companies to join forces with Google to create a free music download option for …

[Via Ann Bartow at Madisonian.net, via Bits & Pieces, etc]
UPDATE: Adam Thierer at Technology Liberation Front jokes this is where increasing privacy regulations might lead us. I disagree, as this would have the opposite effect of any privacy-protecting regulation.
To work, I’d need to give Google my home address to return the results, Google would gain the ability to construct my psychological profile based on handwriting analysis, log my ink preferences, discover which post office I use, etc.  

Today, Google announced its long-awaited behavioral targeted advertising program.
Building from its acquisition of DoubleClick, Google’s new ad system — which it refers to as “interest-based advertising” — will use cookies to track users across the multitude of sites that show Google’s display ads, allowing Google to create a profile of each user based on the kind of sites visited. Google will then target ads to a user based on that profile.
While Yahoo!, Micrsoft, and AOL have all been engaged in behavioral targeting for some time, Google’s entrance into this controversial …

Besides the founders and CEO, Marissa Mayer is probably Google’s most visible celebrity. Recently, the NY Times published a (somewhat puffy) piece on the Vice President of Search Products & User Experience, highlighting her role in developing and designing Google’s search offerings, trying to squash rumors that she might leave the company, and generally explaining to readers that Ms. Mayer is generally misunderstood.
I haven’t had the chance to meet her, and I’m sure she’s a brilliant engineer, a dedicated employee, and a nice person. I have, however, had opportunities to …

This week, Google launched Google Latitude, a new Google Maps feature that lets users share location data with friends, using either a mobile phone or through an interface on iGoogle. (see how it works here)
Unsurprisingly, concerns have arisen regarding the privacy implications of Latitude, and I, of course, have taken issue in the past with Google’s approach to (not) protecting locational privacy (as well as cellphone tracking in general).
But this time, I think Google got it right, and designed Latitude with user privacy in mind.
Here’s a quick rundown …

Imagine you were in a room with Google’s top product and policy folks, and you were asked “What is the one thing Google should do better for users?”  What would you suggest?
For me, it probably would be for Google to follow the guidelines of the U.S. Federal Trade Commissions “Fair Information Practice Principles” and create a Google Data Privacy Center, giving users more access and control over their personal information housed in the company’s vast databanks.
Similar to the policies in place at Google Health, the Google Data Privacy Center would …

I recently installed a Time Capsule in my home, and in the process must have been assigned a new IP address by my ISP. As a result, all my Google searches are being served from the German version of Google.
“Auf gut Glück!” Nein, danke.
So, how to fix this? Google provides some help, but the solutions are problematic.
First, you need to click the Google.com link on the bottom right-hand side of the foreign language Google homepage. That will take you to the US version. But to avoid having to do this …

This is unbelievable.
Google recently released SearchWiki, deployed on the masses without much apparent foresight regarding usability or privacy. While some tweaks have been made, this remains an odd and surprisingly poorly-planned “feature”.
So, what have the great minds in Mountain View been doing the past few days to try to improve SearchWiki? Provide an opt-out feature for logged-in users? Make it easier to post private notes? Clean up the interface?
Nope.
Instead, they’ve added sound effects and snappy graphics.
Really.
Introducing, SearchWiki with sound:
Do you like SearchWiki? Do you enjoy having the power to remove …

Google recently launched SearchWiki, allowing users logged into their Google Account to customize their search results by re-ranking, deleting, adding, and commenting on search results.
Google states this is an effort to improve user experience, and I’m sure some will benefit from being able to customize and annotate (to some extent) their search results. I suspect, however, that Google true motivation is to (a) counter any perceived threat from Wikia Search, and, (b) take advantage of users’ feedback to adjust its overall ranking algorithms.
That second point needs further elaboration (and I’m …

If I were still in New York City, I’d be excited to attend a debate tomorrow on the proposition that “Google violates its ‘don’t be evil’ motto.” Debaters include Jeff Jarvis, Esther Dyson and Jim Harper (against the motion), and Harry Lewis, Randall Picker, and Siva Vaidhyanathan (for the motion).
I think most would agree that Google set itself up for such criticism and debate by selecting a simultaneously provocative and nebulous motto. And I suspect any such debate isn’t about a binary “evil” or “not-evil” distinction, but more about placing …

Google announced a new tool, Google Flu Trends, that purports to track flu activity across the United States. By analyzing flu-related search trends, Google has been able to map a close relationship between the frequency of flu search queries and the number of people who are experiencing flu-like symptoms each week (according to the CDC).
Here’s a nifty chart showing the apparent correlation:

Further, by analyzing the IP addresses where these searches originate, Google can tell which geographic areas are seeing a spike in flu-related search activity, suggesting that Google may …

A collection of information and communication companies, advocacy groups, and academic centers have announced the formation of the Global Network Initiative, aimed at protecting free expression and privacy on the Internet on a global scale.
From the announcement:
In an effort to protect and advance the human rights of freedom of expression and privacy, a diverse coalition of leading information and communications companies, major human rights organizations, academics, investors and technology leaders today launched the Global Network Initiative.
From the Americas to Europe to the Middle East to Africa and Asia, companies in …