Democracy Gone Astray

Democracy, being a human construct, needs to be thought of as directionality rather than an object. As such, to understand it requires not so much a description of existing structures and/or other related phenomena but a declaration of intentionality.
This blog aims at creating labeled lists of published infringements of such intentionality, of points in time where democracy strays from its intended directionality. In addition to outright infringements, this blog also collects important contemporary information and/or discussions that impact our socio-political landscape.

All the posts here were published in the electronic media – main-stream as well as fringe, and maintain links to the original texts.

[NOTE: Due to changes I haven't caught on time in the blogging software, all of the 'Original Article' links were nullified between September 11, 2012 and December 11, 2012. My apologies.]

Wednesday, January 25, 2012

Google starts tracking people as they use YouTube, search, Gmail

Google on Tuesday said it will begin tracking people as they use Google search and Gmail, watch YouTube videos and use other Google services—at their computers and on their mobile devices.

That announcement came hours after Facebook said it will make Timeline and Open Graph part of the default user interface. These new services chronologically assemble and make more easily accessible the preferences, acquaintances and activities of its 800 million members.

The two changes will become effective over the next few weeks, the tech giants said. “It’s clear that they’re doing this to chase more advertising revenue,” says P.J. McNealy, analyst at Digital World Research.

The $32 billion U.S. market for online advertising in 2011, as estimated by eMarketer, is expected to grow at a robust clip. Apple, Microsoft, Twitter, Yahoo, Adobe and a flock of Internet-based companies are part of this gold rush.

Google and Facebook have been sanctioned by U.S. regulators for privacy violations. The moves disclosed on Tuesday are sure to draw scrutiny.

“Google’s plan to change its privacy policy raises important questions about how much control Google users will have over their personal information,” said Rep. Ed Markey, D-Mass. Critics worry the tech giants will open fresh opportunities for cybercrooks to prey on users of the sites.

“Both are racing to monetize our private information and in doing so creating collateral damage,” says Alisdair Faulkner, chief product officer at security firm ThreatMetrix. “They are essentially indexing more and more private information and, in doing so, serving it up on a platter to cybercriminals.”

Previously, any trace of a user’s search or surfing activities on a Google product was used to generate ads only on that particular product. After March 1, when the new policy change becomes effective, a Google account holder’s search and surfing activities will be tracked and used to generate ads and search results across all of Google’s products.

For instance, a search for “2011 Honda Accord” on YouTube may result in a Honda ad flashed on the user’s Gmail. “In short, we’ll treat you as a single user across all our products,” the company said on its blog.

Original Article
Source: Star 
Author:Byron Acohido and Roger Yu

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