Ecosystem Watchdogs Holding Feet to the Fire

Google under fire

In its latest ooops, Google had to explain quickly how its DoubleClick ad app managed to slip by the tracking blocks of the Apple Safari browser. It was Stanford University graduate student, Jonathan Mayer, who discovered it, as reported by Inquirer Technology - Google bypassed Apple privacy settings—research.

Google reportedly did not realize that the app opened Safari browser doors to a slew of DoubleClick ad tracking cookies, which would otherwise have been rejected.

“The Safari browser contained functionality that then enabled other Google advertising cookies to be set on the browser,” the California company said in a released statement. 

“We didn’t anticipate that this would happen, and we have now started removing these advertising cookies from Safari browsers,” it continued. “It’s important to stress that, just as on other browsers, these advertising cookies do not collect personal information.” 

US legislators and privacy advocates lashed out at Google, accusing the company of trampling on people’s privacy and calling for an investigation.

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Path under fire

Similarly, earlier this month, CNN shared a WIRED article - Path CEO: 'We thought we were doing this the right way' - that Arun Thampi from Singapore busted Path, an upstart social media site, for hauling users’ entire address books onto its servers, without an opt-in feature for users. CEO Dave Morin had to do a mea culpa.

“We thought we were doing this the right way. It turns out, we made a mistake.” 

“We used the data for the sake of simplicity,” Morin tells me. “Any time you build a network, you have to help users find their friends. And that entire experience is designed to suggest people who you’re close to.” In other words, it’s the whole point of the app itself.

But that’s not an easy sentiment to convey to users who feel their privacy has been violated. Morin told me he wants to take all measures possible — all explained in a blog post — to prove to users that Path is serious about privacy. “We’ve deleted the entire collection of user contact information from our servers,” Morin says. “Unlike some other companies, we believe that users should have complete control over their data. This is just the right thing to do.”

Carrier IQ under fire

Just two months ago, analytics firm Carrier IQ was in very similar hot water, when security researcher Trevor Eckhart caught them with their pants down, as PCMag.com reported - Carrier IQ 'Vigorously Disagrees' with Critics.  The sleuth in this situation said the firm deployed software that tracked personal information on our mobile phones, unbeknown to users (e.g., texts, calls, and whereabouts). 

Really disturbing, if in fact true.

“While a few individuals have identified that there is a great deal of information available to the Carrier IQ software inside the handset, our software does not record, store or transmit the contents of SMS messages, email, photographs, audio or video,” the company said in a statement released Thursday.

Carrier IQ also said that it “vigorously disagrees” with allegations that the company has violated wiretap laws.

Carrier IQ also quoted Infidel Inc. security analyst Rebecca Bace as saying that “allegations of keystroke collection or other surveillance of mobile device user’s content [by Carrier IQ] are erroneous.”

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If this were a US court, the defendants’ responses ranged from swift, apologetic and combative. These allegations prompted would-be prosecutors (i.e., lawmakers) to express diplomatic yet pointed concern. How are we citizens reassured that, at this very moment, our privacy rights are in fact being upheld? Who among this legal dramatis personae is (are) actually telling the truth? What are we indeed to believe?

Of course, we have to be watchful, and take cautious action in our bustling media sites and with our take-for-granted technology devices. I, for one, am so glad that in this dizzying ecosystem, we have the likes of Mayer, Thampi, and Eckhart serving as our watchdogs!

Thank you for reading, and let me know what you think!

Ron Villejo, PhD