Is Google Too Powerful? Should it Be Broken Up?

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Sorry! said:
Just because people know what you've been doing online is by NO MEANS taking ANY of your freedom away... you can ALWAYS still do whatever you want whenever you want to. If you WANT to do illegal activites that's your choice and you are FREE to do that however their are consequences and if you get caught that's your own problem.

and that wasn't really what i was mainly talking about before. I'm sure google uses this information they collect but i would hardly believe that they go through EACH individual internet user and see who they are and what they have been doing. They probably have a method to take all the data and categorize it all. Even if they had categorized it based on your skin colour etc. They still will never meet you and you'll never have one of those awkward 'I've seen your internet history' moments with them.
So again, why does it TRULY matter... because you just FEEL that you should be able to do whatever you want without other people knowing? Why should your irrational feelings matter at all?


As for the 'security camera's in the house issue' how is that even comparable? This is YOUR house and its NOT YOUR internet or databases etc. etc. This is more comparable to the Library tracking what books you take out in order to better suggest other books. Or the Library putting camera's to catch vandals (at the same time they watch you but WHO CARES?) This is NOTHING like the government coming INTO your house uninvited and just doing whatever, it's far from. and if you feel that it IS comparable to that then just don't go on the sites... then you will never invite them 'into' your house.
but even in the library case its much different because they know you and see you in person. So it might feel awkward sometime if someone were to be like 'we have these new sex position books I've noticed that you take interest in this topic would you like to see them' you would be like "OMG" but if that happened over the internet you could just make it go away. For instance SPAM mail.

HAVE IT BE KNOWN, I however DO NOT agree with say google SELLING this information to the Police when all the information they have gathered is INFERRED. Like you guys said about building the bombs, even though i highly doubt that the police will be knocking at my door tomorrow (cause i was actually just on a site about that to see something my friend talked about) I would be pretty pissed off if it did happen.
There are online activites where it is KNOWN to be illegal. For instance downloading child pornography... were you just 'interested' in the 5 GB's you downloaded of movies and images? I highly doubt that would fly... or Pirating software/movies etc. You do it often enough I am certain something will eventually happen, if it's these huge companies that sell the information or the police doing their own investigation i have no idea. But i don't think these illegal activities rely on inferrence at all.




And what happens when a competitor come along in the near future (which will inevitably happen) and starts eating into a large chunk of google's profits? What is to keep google from going into the information selling business to stay afloat? Nothing.


What if google decides one day to sell information to potential employers who are doing background and reference checks on people they are interviewing for a job ? They might see that you might have looked up chronic back pain treatments on google last year and not offer you the job because 'you are too much of a risk/liability'. You have almost no rights to privacy when it comes to the internet.
 
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All I keep reading on here is that you're 'scared' that google will give this information to people who may or may not abuse it and your rights. How is this a) googles problem or fault? and b) even a big deal?

When I turn on the American news someone is sueing someone else every minute, why not just join the masses and when you don't get that job because google sold your information to a potential employer and they found out somehow... (who knows why they would assume anything based on you looking up chronic backpain??) that you have something wrong with you then sue them I am certain in this case there is a lot of money to be gained. I know even in Canada that there would be a lot of money to be gained if this ever occurred. While we're talking about 'what ifs' instead of what's actually happening what if suddenly it was ok for employers to swipe my health card to get all that information on me and use it against me. Should i attack the Ontario Ministry of Health and shut down their database because my rights may some point in the future be infringed upon? Hell no.
 
I'm more concerned about the government managing medical information and (possibly) deciding who should receive treatment (universal health).
 

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