Sat, April 30, 2005
Gmail is just fine
A friend of mine is looking for a new e-mail account and was considering Gmail, Google's wildly popular and impressive new web-based e-mail service. (S/he's obviously concerned with privacy, so for now my friend shall remain anonymous.) Anyway, this friend asked my opinion on the matter because I have a Gmail account, although I don't use it much because I also have e-mail here at onebee. I just got a Gmail account to have it, because I wanted to try it out, be like the cool kids, and reserve my address before Gmail became overrun and all I could get was jameson67114@gmail.com. Anyway, my friend is hesitant to embrace Gmail because of sites like http://www.gmail-is-too-creepy.com/ and http://www.google-watch.org/. These are run by people who are way too freaked out about privacy issues (although, in the post-Ashcroft era, it's justifiable to be a little freaked out) and believe that the information Google collects about its users can and will be used against us in a malicious way.
The GoogleWatch maniacs are just a little too far out there for me. I trust Google way more than I trust the Bush administration, and I still haven't moved to Canada. I think the market has checks and balances on a corporation doing anything too evil, and before you fall out of your chair laughing at that statement, keep in mind that this isn't a situation where the scare is fraud and theft of money like Enron but (as best I can tell) the primary fear is that Google will accrue a bunch of information about you and... show you ads? That's a risk I'm willing to take.
My point is, Google is involved in a high-stakes battle with Microsoft, Yahoo!, etc. - they can't afford to piss off their customers by taking advantage of their information in ways that make customers feel uncomfortable. If this "privacy" debate were to grow beyond the microscopic fringe of people who design ugly websites ranting about it, Google would find a way to stop doing it and put people at ease. Google says nobody reads your e-mail and I believe them. It's way cheaper for a robot to do it, and then automatically serve up the ads that seem appropriate. If they're aggregating that data long term and using it to provide better search results, fine by me. Saves me the trouble of having to do it. Everyone was up in arms at Amazon for storing every item you've ever bought, looked at, searched for, or added to your wish list, but if it means they recommend better books to me - who cares? Google isn't going to sell your personal information to another company because they'd be burned at the stake. People have gotten really snarky about their "Don't be evil" corporate policy, but I think it's a fine credo and I think they do a fine job of living up to it. Does it sometimes mean making hard decisions like China or Scientology? Yes. But I think they consistently keep the best interests of the greatest number of their users in mind. Maybe I've been brainwashed a bit by the Google brand. So be it. As far as I'm concerned, you could give your Social Security number and mother's maiden name to a lot of worse companies. In my opinion, if Google's doing anything wrong it's not Gmail; opening up their previously respectable AdSense program to animated graphical ads is a far worse transgression.
All the data Google has is collected and analyzed in aggregate, without tying it to personally identifiable information. TiVo does the same thing: compiles a list of what was recorded and what was viewed. That's how they could tell us that Janet Jackson's halftime show was the most re-watched moment in TiVo history. (Sad.) They don't look at what each person watches, though, just the general numbers. (I begged them to look at what I watch. I want TiVo to send e-mail to Fox every time I watch an episode of Arrested Development three times in a row.) I think it's easier for Google to collect and review the information in aggregate, and I think it serves their purposes more. (They want to identify general trends, because that will help them customize their content better. It doesn't mean a lot if you use "radish" and "bondage" in the same e-mail, but if 40% of users do, then it's time to serve up some radish bondage ads.) Yes they could look at your data individually, tie it to your e-mail address, and attempt to track down your Social Security number. And maybe there are some advantages to doing that. I just don't think those advantages outweigh the potential fallout if they get caught. If they're going to remain successful, Google can't afford for more than the fringe loonies to be afraid of them. They need us to love and trust them.
I, for one, do.
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