Google Should Be Able to Track Us

Google Should Be Able to Track Us

Ethan Geiger

3/5/19

In the early days of the internet, we had a decision to make: we could either pay to use online services or get them for free. People chose to use services for free; services like Google need to make money in order to maintain and run their data centers. These data centers are the key to the internet, and without them the internet would not exist; Google spends an estimated 13 billion dollars on data centers annually; that money needs to come from somewhere, and since the users decided not to pay for the services, they have to find other means of maintaining and running their massive data centers(Reuters). The 13 billion dollars a year estimate does not even include the immense amount of money Google pours in for research and development, artificial intelligence, and other innovations that make our web experiences immeasurably better than what was ever imaginable twenty years ago. Many people say that it is not right for corporations such as Google to collect and then sell our private information to advertisers without our permission, but this is not true.

Google, as well as much of the internet, could not function unless adware (software that collects data and serves advertisements to the user) were in use. The internet is keeping people exceeding more engaged, holding people in closer contact than ever, all at incredible speeds. The internet keeps everyone with access engaged and allows them to learn new information continuously. A study done by the University of California showed that people who regularly used the internet had close to twice the amount of brain activity than the other group of people who did not use the internet (CNN). They accomplished this by taking people of the same age group, race, sex and environment and giving them MRI’s while completing tasks. The only difference between the two groups was one regularly used technology, and the other did not. This study clearly shows how accomplished the internet is for keeping our minds engaged. This proves that the internet is beneficial for all people; however, without Google tracking us it would be impossible. Many valuable resources are made by Google that is paid for by your data. Some of these services include; YouTube, a free place to share creative work and ideas, Android, a free and open source mobile software that is used by millions of people and is now the largest operating system in the world, Google maps which allows people to discover new places and get to destinations in record time by using other people’s location data to determine where there is traffic (Business Insider). Artificial intelligence technology, which is incorporated into commercial situations such as logistics to make travel more efficient (DLH Trend Research). Without Google collecting our information in order to serve you relevant advertisements, none of that would be possible.

Artificial Intelligence is one of the most potent tools that humans have. It can do tasks in seconds what would take humans hours to do. You use artificial intelligence almost every day, and this would be almost impossible without Google collecting our data. Google is the largest company that is investing in artificial intelligence and Google would not be able to fund programs such as Deep Mind without serving ads to us; this would mean life would be incredibly different from how it is today (US. News). You may think that you rarely encounter AI, but you use it all the time; I am using it right now writing this essay. An artificial intelligence built into Google Docs as well as Grammarly is analyzing my typing patterns as well as everyone else’s that is using the service. It takes this vast amount of information and determines what words are spelled wrong, and what it believes I would like it to be corrected too. If it notices that it has corrected word into something else, it will remember that and correct that misspelled word to what I changed it to before (Big Data Made Simple). Artificial intelligence is also found in speech recognition software. AI recognizes your speech so it can type what you are saying or give you a response similar to what the Google Assistant does. Google is also working on artificial intelligence with hyper-realistic text to speech; this can be used in many applications. One example is to help someone with Dyslexia who may have trouble reading. Google’s Wavenet can deliver a near perfect human narration of any text you give it (Google AI blog). None of these things would be possible without the funding that data collection generates and with all the data they collect to train their AI.

Many people believe that Google tracking us is an infringement of our privacy, but this is just not true. When you signed into Google for the first time, you probably thought nothing about the “I agree to the terms and service” button that you have to press in order to set up your account. If you were to read the legal document in you just digitally signed, it would have said, “We use the information we collect from all of our services to provide, maintain, protect and improve them, to develop new ones, and to protect Google and our users-We also use this information to offer you tailored content — like giving you more relevant search results and ads” (Google’s privacy policy). The privacy policy clearly states that Google may use your data when, and how it wants; if you are upset about them doing that, it is no one’s fault but your own for not reading the terms of service.

Now that we have now established that it is legally ok for Google to track us, now let us talk about why it is ethically right. Google uses our data to not only be able to keep its vast amount of servers up and running but also to create a better user experience for you and every one else. Using algorithms and artificial intelligence (which is funded through selling ads) they can create a better user experience. For example, if you were to search for mountain biking, Google looks at what you have searched, your current location, and what other people did when they searched for mountain biking to give you the best result possible: mountain biking trails near you (Google’s Privacy Policy).

Google also uses your information to get a better understanding about what you like and what you do not like; this is incorporated with music suggestions in YT music, Youtube videos, advertisements, and Google search results. All of these things make searching the web a more pleasurable experience for everyone. Although it is a little creepy that Google knows what you like and do not like, it is worth it for what you get. I use YT music which has Google’s artificial intelligence built into it. Due to this incredible technology, Google has suggested many astounding songs to me, many of which are now some of my favorites; without this fantastic technology and Google’s understanding about my likes and dislikes, I may have never heard these songs before.

Another product that makes many people’s lives much easier is the Google assistant. While the Google Home does not record conversations to extract data from you, it does take data from other Google services to determine your preferences, your interests, location, and traffic data (Google Home help). This makes it possible for the Google assistant to work, and deliver better search results, saving the user time and frustration. By knowing your preferences, it can consistently deliver relevant search results to you at all times (Google).

Many people think that Google is shady organization full of people in a castle on top of a mountain laughing as lightning flashes in the background while they are collecting all your personal information and selling it at a massive profit to advertisers; however, this is not true. Google collects and uses our information to make better products, conduct research to train artificial intelligence and personalize our web experience, with the added benefit of making money so they can continue to develop their services (truTV).

I understand that having your every online move tracked by an invisible big brother sounds creepy, as well as an infringement of your privacy, but this is not true. Having your data tracked is optional; just do not use Google. There are an abundance of different options to choose from that do not track you, such as Duckduckgo; but perhaps the merest way is to prevent tracking is to go into your Google activity controls and disable data collection (Google). This will make it impossible for Google to track you. Moreover, even when Google does track you, the data always stays within Google and is not being sold to advertising firms. Google collects your data, and then handpicks ads in house, so no one ever sees your data. Your data is safe and protected within Google, and it is not just being used to make a profit, but to better the internet for everyone and the future generations.

Although Google does collect data about you, all of it is entirely optional. Also, Google does not just collect your data so they can make a profit, they do it to create better search results for you so that you can access useful information with as little effort as possible. They also collect data so they can give you a realistic approximation for how long it will take you to get to a destination by using your past driving habits as well as traffic data from other users. They use data to make advancements in artificial intelligence so the future can come at an accelerated rate. Without Google tracking us, many services such as maps, Youtube, virtual assistants, tailored advertising, the modern day search engine, Android and many other products would not be possible.

People need to understand that Google is not collecting data because they want to make money, they are doing it because they need to make money in order to fund all the projects that they are working on and the services they provide. They need it to improve the web for everyone and make life as pleasurable as possible. We need to stop attacking these companies for doing stuff that we already consented to when we signed up for their services. On the surface, their tactics may not sound ethical, but it is what is best for humanity as a whole.

Work Cited

Divine, John. “Artificial Intelligence Stocks: 10 of the Best AI Stocks to Buy.” U.S. News & World Report, U.S. News & World Report, 19 Mar. 2018, money.usnews.com/investing/stock-market-news/slideshows/artificial-intelligence-stocks-the-10-best-ai-companies.

“Accurate Online Speaker Diarization with Supervised Learning.” Google AI Blog, 12 Nov. 2018, ai.googleblog.com/search/label/Speech.

Alphabet. “Making It Easy to Understand What Data We Collect and Why.” Ads and Data | Google Safety Center, safety.google/privacy/data/.

Berlinquette, Patrick. “How Google Tracks Your Personal Information — Featured Stories — Medium.” Medium.com, Medium, 22 Jan. 2019, medium.com/s/story/the-complete-unauthorized-checklist-of-how-google-tracks-you-3c3abc10781d.

Google. “GOOGLE TERMS OF SERVICE.” Google, Alphabet , policies.google.com/terms?hl=en.

Hill, Sarah, et al. “How Grammarly & Google Are Using AI for Flawless Writing.” Big Data Made Simple — One Source. Many Perspectives., 13 Dec. 2018, bigdata-madesimple.com/how-grammarly-google-are-using-artificial-intelligence-for-flawless-writing/.

Mindmajix. “Importance Of Artificial Intelligence.” Mindmajix, Mindmajix Technologies INC, 9 Apr. 2018, mindmajix.com/why-ai-is-more-important-than-you-think.

Penn State Altoona. “Human Hand Reaching out to Robot Hand.” Penn State Altoona, Penn State, 2018, altoona.psu.edu/photo/17016/2019/02/21/human-hand-reaching-out-robot-hand.

“Privacy Policy — Privacy & Terms — Google.” Google, Google, policies.google.com/privacy?hl=en.

Ratner, Alex. “Google AI Blog.” Google AI Blog, 14 Mar. 2019, ai.googleblog.com/.

SEO. “How Google Instant’s Autocomplete Suggestions Work.” Search Engine Land, Search Engine Land, 28 Sept. 2017, searchengineland.com/how-google-instant-autocomplete-suggestions-work-62592.

Timmons, Heather, and Hanna Kozlowska. “Mark Zuckerberg Is Standing Trial for the Entire Tech Industry.” Quartz, Quartz, 13 Apr. 2018, qz.com/1248979/senate-testimony-on-cambridge-analytica-mark-zuckerberg-is-standing-trial-for-the-entire-tech-industry/.

Related posts:

Two days after I moved to New York City, the woman I was staying with finally got an extra key made so that I could go out on my own. It was late December and I was staying up in Washington Heights…

Can you remember a time when you were on your favorite app, scrolling through, a link that caught your eye and you were sent away into the wilderness of an external browser to view the content of…

Saving money is an essential financial habit that can help you achieve your financial goals and build financial security. Here are some effective strategies to save money: 1. Create a budget…