Big Business Knows Us Too Well

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Google Has Its Eye on You

Why does don't-be-evil Google merit such a lousy ranking? For the same reason so many privacy advocates and reporters watch it like a hawk: What it might do. Google is ranked at the bottom because it has the potential to do great evil against consumers and has been reluctant to make a meaningful commitment to consumer privacy.

Case in point: The company's new Street View feature that incorporates high-resolution drive-by photography into Google Earth and Google Maps features. The pictures are so detailed you can read license plates, see girls sunbathing, or watch men going into an adult store. Useful? Perhaps. Scary? You bet.

Which brings me to AT&T, a company with a long history of anticonsumer behavior, especially when it comes to privacy. The telecommunications provider cooperated with the National Security Agency in possibly illegal spying, and it's the target of an EFF class-action lawsuit alleging that it gave the NSA unrestricted access to the phone calls and Internet communications of millions of Americans.

Nothing to Hide

This month AT&T (T) announced it would be developing a technology that would scour its networks for pirated content, assisting the entertainment industry in finding, stopping, and punishing illegal music and video copying. It's hard to believe AT&T can carry out this bold plan without violating our privacy.

Apple, Google, AT&T—all are among new Nanny Corporations. These are information companies that believe they have the right, if not the obligation, to snoop through your e-mail, show everyone what your house looks like from the street, and catch you if you infringe a music company's copyright.

Such corporate privacy violations are different from governmental ones because of the immediacy of the consequences. When a government attacks our privacy, it's often carried out over time. But information companies move much faster. Not only do they invade our privacy, but by operating in a legal and sometimes ethical vacuum, they apparently feel justified in doing so, whether it's purportedly for our own, their own, or someone else's own good.

Brings Back Memories

Whenever I hear one of these stories about a snoopy company, I feel like I did when I was 15 and found out that my parents were listening to my phone calls or rifling through my sock drawer to see if I'd discovered pot yet.

If Apple wants to sell me DRM-free music, fine. It's my choice to pay the surcharge if I want. But it has to be an informed choice. If Google wants to be as cool as it thinks it is, it will make a public commitment to protect my privacy instead of engaging in surveillance that, if carried out by a person, would be considered stalking.

As for AT&T, it's planning the electronic equivalent of Marriott (MAR) searching my room and luggage to see if I stole ketchup packets from McDonald's. I wouldn't accept that behavior from the hotel where I sleep and I shouldn't have to take it from the company that connects my calls.

Holtzman is the author of the book Privacy Lost: How Technology Is Endangering Your Privacy (www.privacylostbook.com). He blogs at globalpov.com.