Watchdog Claims Google Is ‘Hostile’ To Privacy

Do you recall the point in time when the online world was up in arms over Google’s involvement in the censoring of information as it made its first venture into China? Of course you do. The rumors, the speculation, and the stories about the measures were front and center for a good few weeks. Those were stormy days for the company widely believed incapable of doing wrong. (The reputations of others were also tarnished a good deal for walking across the same fine line, most notably Yahoo! and Microsoft.)

Those weeks of intense debate showed us that not all newsworthy Google moments would be occasions to crack open the champagne and pat Larry and Sergey and Eric on their respective backs. Sometimes, disappointment and even admonishment would rain down on the Googleplex. Today, we find another unsavory bit about the company to pore over. This time it’s to do with (trigger doom and gloom soundtrack) privacy.

Yes, according to BBC News, “rights group Privacy International rated the search giant as ‘hostile’ to privacy in a report ranking Web firms by how they handle personal data.” Hostile. Hostile! For shame. For shame, Mr Page, Mr Brin, and Mr Schmidt. (And a good number of the remaining 10,000+ Google employees whose tasks require that they keep our personal stuff personal.)

To be fair, many, many other big names in the Web industry received a good deal of bad news themselves. Privacy International claimed that Yahoo!, AOL, Facebook, and Hi5 (social network popular outside the US) have “substantial threats” to contend with.

Some Web entities bore the brunt of mild scoldings, like BBC.com, eBay, and Last.fm, as they were declared “generally privacy aware but in need of improvement.”

Google, however, is the most public face on the Web today. Its search engine handles a significant amount more traffic than any other, thus its responsibility to protect user data is exponentially greater than any other. For Google to rank as low as it evident has is to trumpet around the globe the truth that its walls are not as thick and its locks not as resilient as it has made them out to be. Such a message clearly won’t be taken lightly by Google’s users.

Google’s general council Nicole Wong said in response to the report: “We are disappointed with Privacy International’s report, which is based on numbers inaccuracies and misunderstandings about our services. … We recognized that user trust is central to our business and Google aggressively protects our users’ privacy.”
Privacy International plans “to release a more detailed report in September.”

Privacy International published online an open letter written to Google in response to the search giant's "media tactics" against the rights watchdog. Read the letter here.