Tag: Google

Student Data-Mining Scandal

The Student Data-Mining Scandal Under Our Noses, by Michelle Malkin by Michelle Malkin (creators.com)

Over the past four years, Google has admitted "scanning and indexing" student email messages sent using GAFE and data mining student users for commercial gain when they use their accounts for noneducational purposes. Google can collect student/family data to target ads through related services outside the GAFE suite, such as YouTube for Schools, Blogger and Google Plus. These are not covered under the already watered-down federal Family Educational Rights and Privacy Act.

Surprise, not surprised; Google and Facebook are involved.

Google wants to scan your clothing and listen to you brush your teeth. Welcome home.

The Next Data Mine Is Your Bedroom by Sidney Fussell (The Atlantic)

For reward systems created by either users or companies to be possible, the devices would have to know what you’re doing at all times. The language of these patents makes it clear that Google is acutely aware of the powers of inference it has already, even without cameras, by augmenting speakers to recognize the noises you make as you move around the house. The auditory inferences are startling: Google’s smart-home system can infer “if a household member is working” from “an audio signature of keyboard clicking, a desk chair moving, and/or papers shuffling.” Google can make inferences on your mood based on whether it hears raised voices or crying, on when you’re in the kitchen based on the sound of the fridge door opening, on your dental hygiene based on “the sounds and/or images of teeth brushing.”

/bin/rm -fr Google+

I deleted my Google+ profile just moments ago. No big deal. I rarely used it; not as much as I did a few years ago. I was very much into Google+ because it had a vibrant photography community. I haven’t used it at all in the last few months except as a dumping ground for links from my website. I had intended to delete the account but it seems Google+ is shutting down anyway amidst a disclosure that they delayed announcement of a breach of privacy.

“First Facebook, now Google. Software problems at huge tech companies continue to expose ‘the product,’ which in the case of advertising-driven tech companies happens to be your data,” Gary McGraw, vice president of security technology at Synopsys.Threatpost