Is Big Google watching you?

TechTalk
By Ken Doyle

The web’s leading search engine, Google, stirred up a great deal of controversy this month when it announced plans to provide a free e-mail service that includes one gigabyte of storage for each account. That’s enough space to last the average consumer a lifetime (or at least a few years, if you receive as much e-mail as I do). It would put Google way ahead of the two major free e-mail providers, Yahoo (mail.yahoo.com) and Microsoft’s Hotmail (www.hotmail.com).

Web-based, searchable e-mail, a huge amount of storage space, daily backups of your files, all for free. That sounds pretty good, right? Except for one little detail.

Google’s computers will electronically scan your e-mail for relevant keywords and insert advertising content into every message. Another potential problem is that your e-mail will remain in the system even after you’ve closed your account. As you might imagine, consumer watchdog groups have reacted to this announcement with universal condemnation. As a result, Google has announced that it is “rethinking” its plans and the final version of the service may well address these privacy concerns.

Nonetheless, all Internet users should pay careful attention to online privacy issues. Many of us may not even be aware of the ways in which our personal information is being shared or distributed online.

Some simple steps can help to minimize the risk. First, avoid using your web browser’s “autofill” feature, which stores your information so that it can be automatically entered into an online form.

Second, be careful about accepting “cookies”—chunks of data that websites store on your hard drive. In many cases, these are harmless or even essential (for example, making purchases online), but some third-party advertising services—such as DoubleClick—use them to track your web surfing habits. In fact, the Google search engine uses cookies to track statistics on your search terms. Most Internet users are blissfully unaware that they’re accepting cookies, since the default option in common web browsers is to accept all cookies without notifying the user. You can change this behavior in your browser options, or use special “cookie management” software.

Third, make sure you use software to block pop-up advertisements and “spyware” that sends information back to ad servers—these functions are often included with a good Internet security or firewall package.

Fourth, never use your main e-mail account for online purchasing or surveys—that’s what free e-mail services are for. I have accounts at both Hotmail and Yahoo, and they were deluged with spam within a few days of using them. Yahoo tends to do a better job of filtering spam than Hotmail, though.

For more on these and other methods of protecting your information, visit the Electronic Frontier Foundation website at www.eff.org/Privacy/eff_privacy_top_12.html. It pays to be vigilant, and always read the fine print. There’s no such thing as a free lunch—or e-mail account.