The Safety of the Internet

Last year the American public was shocked to hear of the breach of their own privacy that occurred because telecommunication giants had been sharing their customers’ information with government investigators. I recall the outrage that had been sparked, but it was interesting to me, how quickly everyone tended to forget. However, it appears that everyone’s favorite search engine was listening, and is now making changes that will protect the privacy of its users much more than under today’s system.

According to Elise Ackerman of Mercury News, Google is changing the way in they store user information in order to ensure consumer privacy, while still following legal regulations regarding data storage. As she states, "[t]he goal: to make sure the billions of Internet searches stored in
Google’s digital vaults cannot be used by the government or any other
third party to identify a specific person years after the original
query was tapped out on a keyboard."

Technically, Google is going to hack off the last digits of the IP addresses that connect searches with computers, and make cookies anonymous; steps that erase the fingerprints of those who use the giant search engine.

This is great news for both casual internet users and those of us who rely upon the internet in our businesses because it builds up both the real, and perceived, safety of the internet. One of the highest hurdles that firms like ours must face is alleviating our clients’ worries over our practices. With files being digitized, whole discoveries being conducted in cyberspace, and confidential information being zapped, copied, and distributed through emails and networks, the security of confidential client information can be a great worry to those who call upon our services.

Knowing that Google is now on the side of consumers, by erasing their names from their internet searches, means that we can all rest assured that the information we distribute through the internet is safer than it was before. I hope that Google’s announcement sets a standard for privacy that is matched by all other internet operators, which will enhance consumer confidence in the security of the internet, and alleviate their worries about dealing with those whose work is rooted in the world wide web.