Copyright2005

1

Google – USER PERSPECTIVES

Roger ClarkeXamax Consultancy Pty Ltd, Canberra

Visiting Professor in Comp. Sci., A.N.U. , Uni. of Hong Kong

Visiting Professor in Cyberspace Law & Policy, U.N.S.W.

http://www.anu.edu.au/people/Roger.Clarke/...

.../II/Google0512 {.html, .ppt}

National Institute of Social Sciences & the Law

A.N.U., 9 December 2005

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Copyright2005

2

USER PERSPECTIVES

• The Content Accessor• The Content Expressor• The Content Consumer• The Private Person

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Copyright2005

3

Interests of the Content Accessor

The Web – Phase 1

• Accessibility / • Free as in bird / open• Free as in beer /

gratis• Equitability

• Usability / Ease-of-Use• Reliability• Selectivity / Censorship• ...

Copyright2005

4

But the Web is a puny first attempt

Hotlinks are not Hyperlinks

• not bi-directional• unaryAnchors are Limited• dependent on the

originator• absolute not relativeNo Transclusion• Anchor differs from targetNo Micropayments SchemeNo Version Management

Accessible Content is Limited

• Database Content used for Page-Generation

• ‘Grey Web’ locked behind loginid and password

• Restricted-Distribution ‘Publications’ by govts, corporations, high-fee consultancy reports

• Unarchived, lost pages• Limited Retrospective

Capture (out of print books, newpaper archives, letters)

Copyright2005

5

Interests of the Content Accessor

The Web – Phase 2• Discoverability• Sampleability

• Abstract• Selective• Random

• Excerptability / Quotability• Storability• Rediscoverability (e.g. cache,

Wayback)• Version Management (e.g. Mod.

Tracking)

Copyright2005

6

Interests of the Content Expressor

• Freedom to Create / Express• Freedom to Communicate

• ‘Privately’ / in restricted fashion• ‘Publicly’

• Freedom to Control• ‘copying’, adaptation,

republication• ...

Copyright2005

7

Interests of the Content Consumer

• Persistence of Accessibilitycf. one-time access permission

• Transparency of Terms• Negotiability of Terms• Recourse• Enforceability• ...

Copyright2005

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Interests of the Private Person

Privacy Dimensions:• of the Physical Person• of Personal Behaviour• of Personal Communications• of Personal DataMotivations:• Psychological• Social• Political• Economic

Control of Personal Data:• Non-Disclosed (e.g. the

home, personal secrets)• Compulsorily-Disclosed

(e.g. court, census, govt,monopoly-providers)

• Selectively-Disclosed(e.g. ‘in confidence’)

• Public Place, but with privacy expectation

• Published

Copyright2005

9

‘Research Your Next Appointment’

• Their Own Site(s)• Event Programs• Committee Minutes• Court Reports• Media Reports

• as subject• as commentator• as bystander• as

reporter/contributor/poet

• Letters to the Editor

• Postings• email-lists• fora• blogs

• Logs (e.g. in court)• IAPs• ISPs• own machine

• ‘Little Black Books’• Commercial Databases• Dead Pages, from the

Wayback Machine

Copyright2005

10

Privacy Threats from Open Information

Discoverability• Data• Associations

Second-Round Effects• More Data Retention• More Data Capture

Data Quality Problems

• Out-of-Date• Incomplete• Acontextual• Inaccurate• Scurrilous• Spurious

Copyright2005

11

Long-Term Email Risk Exposures

Both Parties’s IAPs:• IP-address(es) used,

disclosing location, trail• authorised / unauthorised

disclosure, with/without notification; data retention

Mail-Recipient’s ISP:• access to, use of traffic• access to, use of content• authorised / unauthorised

disclosure, with/without notification

• retention after download

ISP Mail-Hosting / Webmail• long-term retentionGmail Subscribers• targeted ads based on text

from senders, cf. consumer behaviour manipulation

• correlation with data from other services

Senders to Gmail Addresses• examination of text• long-term retention• long-term unauthorised

disclosure, no notification

Copyright2005

12

EPIC on Gmail• No non-Subscribers Consent

to content extraction• Unlimited data retention• Profiling across Google

product line• Harms expectation of

privacy• Insufficient privacy policy• No data protection on sale of

company or change of company policy

http://www.epic.org/privacy/gmail/faq.html, August 2004

• Gmail is a privacy disaster

• Google is attempting to engage in indefinite data retention

• Google has publicly stated it will not discuss law enforcement requests for personal information. So we have no idea how Google responds to law enforcement, nor how many requests have been received

private email, 8 Dec 2005

Copyright2005

13

What’s Google?• Crawler, Search-

Engine• Search Extensions:

• Cache / Archive• Images• News• Scholar• Definitions• Site-Search• ...

• Content• Library• Print• Earth• ...

Copyright2005

14

What’s Google?• Crawler, Search-

Engine• Search Extensions:

• Cache / Archive• Images• News• Scholar• Definitions• Site-Search• ...

• Content• Library• Print• Earth• ...

‘something that knowsa lot about you’

• Logs of IP-Addresses, Search-Terms, Ad-Clicks

• Long-term Cookie and ID for all Google Services

• Gmail:• all subscriber emails• emails of all

correspondents• Orkut Profile Data• Log of Content-Accesses

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Copyright2005

15

Google – USER PERSPECTIVES

Roger ClarkeXamax Consultancy Pty Ltd, Canberra

Visiting Professor in Comp. Sci., A.N.U. , Uni. of Hong Kong

Visiting Professor in Cyberspace Law & Policy, U.N.S.W.

http://www.anu.edu.au/people/Roger.Clarke/...

.../II/Google0512 {.html, .ppt}

National Institute of Social Sciences & the Law

A.N.U., 9 December 2005

QuickTime™ and aTIFF (Uncompressed) decompressor

are needed to see this picture.QuickTime™ and aTIFF (Uncompressed) decompressorare needed to see this picture.