As a person who lives, breaths and who falls asleep only to continue dreaming about security, I'm always looking for a way to express the impact of the risk we take. I've created tools, define methodologies to follow, to aid in solving problems or expose it to learn more about it. Today's challenge is how we can maintain enough of our privacy to avoid from being preyed upon.
Then along comes, Google (and Facebook) demonstrating how privacy no longer exists. Bits and bytes of information have now become the next gold rush. And all of it done in plain sight. For example, when you ask Google (Home, Assistance, etc.) a question, or handsfree to dictate a message its collected and stored just in case you need to go back because you forgot the question. Now it might be convenient as a parent to monitor, track and identify what your kid is up to, now imagine this in the hands of some dubious person, a con artist, a competitor, nemesis, your ex, investigators of one form or another.
Don't believe me, give it a try. In any browser, go to https://history.google.com and login to (hopefully, one of many) Google accounts. Now take notice of what you searched for or the websites you happened to have visited... two years ago!
How about the convenience of a smartphone with built-in GPS chip mashed up with your Google account. Go to https://www.google.com/maps/timeline
and admire the pinpoint accuracy of everywhere you have been since you associate your Google account with your phone. It gets even better. Drill down to one of the many dots litter across the map.
Yes, George Orwell is having the last laugh.
After you recover from your head spinning from all of the nefarious possibilities flashing through your head, go ahead and poke around Facebook and discover what it has in store for you.
There are ways to protect your privacy. One is, of course, stop using Google altogether. And in today's world that can be easier said than done.
Of course, there are many ways to try to cover your tracks such as obfuscating your network traffic, but then you run into the issue with exit points involving Google. For example, using TOR to surf, but logging into your Gmail account. You might fool Google into thinking you're at a Cafe in France, but your history will expose you in other ways.
Or in the Google setting switch it off. But the genie is out of the bottle at this point. For all, I know the "switches" are just a placebo. If they can do it in plain sight, they certainly can do it without you knowing about it.
So, workable solutions are, though a bit slower at times, by anonymizing your time spent on the Internet. Wired has a good starting point to consider.
Ref: http://www.wired.com/2014/06/be-anonymous-online/
Final thought. If the rumors are true that Google does little to protect your privacy from your employer or law enforcement, it might be time to get off the Google Grid.
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