Security & Privacy - Mitash Digital

Google Settles Buzz Lawsuit For $8.5m – But Nobody Except The Lawyers Get Rich

$8.5m sounds like a big payday for someone, but don’t get too exited for the plaintiffs, the seven involved in bringing this action will receive no more than $2,500 each. 30% of the cash will go to lawyers and the rest will be put in a fund for organisations involved with internet education and privacy issues.

Google made a huge booboo when they launched Google Buzz back in February by automatically including users’ frequent Gmail contacts on public Buzz profiles. As the world’s biggest search provider you really have to get ‘privacy’ right, but then aren’t lawsuits tax deductable? This could be a small blessing for the Google accountant.

Who gets to keep the interest on the fund is my question, perhaps they can slice it up between the rest of the Gmail account users who may have divorced, lost business or been caught lying in the debacle of the Google Buzz launch. Or better still, allocate the money to search engine marketing company initiatives to help us protect against Google privacy slips….wishful thinking. Read more

27/10/2011/by Ash Mehta

Blogging, Internet/Online Marketing, Search Engine Optimisation (SEO), Security & Privacy, Social Media Marketing (SMM), Social Media Optimisation (SMO)

How Much Does Google Know About You

Last week I wrote about the full launch of Google’s Social Search facility and the positives and negatives of ‘results from your social circle’. Not long after publishing that post I was contacted directly by a few of you voicing concerns about just how far Google intends on going in terms of violating a persons right to online privacy. This got me thinking, and it is only really when you take time out to think about Google that you realise they know a hell of a lot about us. Perhaps our online privacy has been completely lost, but in all honesty it’s a little too late for us to bolt the stable door.

On one hand we love the Internet for its freedom, and whether the latest leaked document on U.S. operations by Wikileaks or the exposure of a celebrity involved in a nude act, the fact is Read more

22/10/2011/by Ash Mehta

Search Engine Optimisation (SEO), Security & Privacy

Google Stalker Proves Privacy Isn’t Always Protected – But Search Engine Optimisation Firms Need Their Big Brother

Have you ever wondered whether far away in “Google Land” there is a nerdy looking computer expert tracking your every move around the internet? Scary thought, but one that became a reality last week.

David Barksdale, site reliability engineer at Google has been given the boot after abusing his position by tapping into the voice phone logs, contact lists and chat transcripts of minors, he even went as far as unblocking himself after a teen account owner blocked him out. On one occasion he flaunted the name and address of a 15-year-old’s girlfriend after the teen refused to disclose her name.

David Barksdale – now ex- Google Site Reliability Engineer Read more

20/09/2010/by Ash Mehta

Internet/Online Marketing, Security & Privacy

Google CEO Starts to Lose His Marbles Over Internet Privacy

Internet Marketing Services Rub Palms As ‘No Anonymity’ Policy is Prophesized

If you don’t want you private life shared on the internet then you clearly have something to hide, either that or you are doing something illegal that the government should know about. That is, according to Google CEO Eric Schmidt, who when speaking with Maria Bartiromo on CNBC recently, explained:

“People who have something to hide shouldn’t be doing things online that might potentially expose them if law enforcement seeks access to their search histories. If you have something that you don’t want anyone to know, maybe you shouldn’t be doing it in the first place”. Read more

27/08/2010/by Ash Mehta