The "war" between big data and personal privacy

recently, Google Executive chairman Eric Schmidt became a network of "red" people, users have to change their avatar photo to Eric Schmidt's photos.


is not idolatry, it is actually a protest against the new Google ads. Google's recent introduction of the so-called "common endorsement" of the advertising policy, will allow advertisers to use Google + social networking sites and other services on Google's names, photos, reviews and other information to endorse their own advertising products. The move was accused of violating personal privacy, prompting a great deal of dissatisfaction among many users.


Google is only a moment in the "cusp." Behind this is a "war" between large data and personal privacy that cannot be avoided.


Google new ads encounter embarrassment


Google's new advertising policy so-called "common endorsement", what is the matter?


For example, you use Google to search a restaurant, on the Web page may appear your friend "Zhang So-and-so", "Li So-and-so" and so on in this restaurant after the meal point "praise" or make other evaluation, and "Zhang So-and-so", "Li So-and-so" are real-name, their head is also impressively in the eye. Then you will have a feeling for this restaurant, and you may also make some consumer choices according to your friends ' comments. In this way, "Zhang So-and-so", "Li So-and-so" virtually for the restaurant to do an advertisement, become its image spokesperson, even one day, they may also get some advertising fees to be divided.


If you are "Zhang So-and-so" or "Li So-and-so", are you really willing to do such an advertisement, to expose their whereabouts to others? Even if the object of the ad is your friend, you may not be willing to share it with you every time. What's more, for you, you may not remember where you left the calligraphy, God knows where the ads will appear and who will see them.


However, Google also made an explanation: whether to participate in the "common endorsement", in fact, is the user's own choice. However, if users do not modify their share of the approval settings, is to acquiesce to Google in the ads to use the user's various information.


Even so, Google's new advertising policy has been "violated user privacy" question. Mark Rottberg, director of the American Electronic Privacy Information Center, also blamed the new Google ads for commercializing information such as Internet users ' photos as unfair. He also called on the U.S. Federal Trade Commission (FTC) to intervene in the investigation and evaluation. Google users have protested, according to foreign media reports, in a short period of time, many Google + users have replaced their personal profile photos of Schmidt's photos, once Google decided to use the ads in the user's photos, these photos show will be Schmidt himself.


doubts or protests, at least for now, Google has not changed its mind and will not change its new advertising policy. As Google sees it, its rival, Facebook, has long adopted a similar social-advertising strategy. Google's move is intended to confront.


Indeed, to the domestic network users, in fact, this way of advertising, is not unfamiliar. Sina Weibo will also be inserted in the user's homepage information flow "Friends Listen", "Friend attention", "location recommended" and other approximate ads, items, below will also show the user's friend ID, the user as an advertising image spokesperson use.


the transmission of this information, intentionally or unintentionally threatens the user's personal privacy. Some large internet companies, such as Google, can also provide users with a number of terms to explain whether the user is involved in the "joint endorsement" can also be traced, or perhaps, these large companies will be heroic to participate in the user to distribute some of the benefits based on the advertising fee split. However, as long as the big companies set a precedent, there will inevitably be some irregular, even if the site is not good to follow, without my consent to use your avatar or other information to advertise, then your privacy is completely exposed, but also some of you do not know how the channel will affect you, it is impossible to know.


the privacy of the big Data age


If Google's new advertising policy is to use the user's information directly for their own purposes, violating the user's personal privacy; So, in this big data age, almost all online business behavior, in essence, through the user's personal privacy insight or use, to obtain business benefits.


All our actions on the Web can be known to the service side. When we browse a Web page, send a tweet, stroll around a social networking site, or do a web shopping, and so on, all of the actions are actually recorded in the form of data in the network. Based on the comprehensive analysis of these data, Google can clearly grasp your web browsing habits, and Amazon, Taobao and other electric dealers can very well understand your shopping habits, face-book, micro-bo, micro-letter, etc., it seems to know everything, including your social network. In addition, there are network maps and positioning, but also can monitor your whereabouts in real time.


all of these "you" messages, originally private, are now "inventory" data for Internet marketers. Marketers can identify you at any time and tap into your business value. Google's new advertising approach is just one of them, the so-called precision marketing based on large data, is a more common form of privacy use.


For example, when you accidentally mention a product or service on a social networking site, this type of product or service can take the initiative to find you; If you want to buy a pair of snow boots and browse through the products on a website, then the relevant snow boots introduction or purchase links will be recommended to you for some time in the future. ; you just search through the Internet map of a restaurant's address, you may not want to spend, but the introduction of the restaurant or its various promotional promotions, will be regularly pushed to you, which naturally includes Google's new ads involved in a good friend endorsement.


These business practices, seemingly more understand consumers, can direct consumers, but this is not a violation of consumer privacy? "In the big data age, there is little privacy to speak of," he said. Who you are, where you are, what you like, what you consume, what you want to do right now ... Large data can give accurate or near-accurate answers. For Internet enterprises, based on large data resources to master more user privacy, in order to quickly occupy more market share. Even the industry has the next round of the Internet competition, plainly defined as the "privacy of the war", the user's privacy is the core competitiveness.


For example, Acxiom, the world's leading it and data services company, has a strong appeal in the industry because it has a lot of personal data about privacy, and it is said to have personal information 500多万名 consumers around the world. You can use this information to speculate about your lifestyle, hobbies, and daily activities, such as your car brand and usage time, your income and investment status, your age, and your education level. Besides, have you been divorced recently, or have you just become an empty-nest old man? These "life events" can shift one person from one consumer class to another, which is also a key interest of the customer and its advertisers. The company says it can analyze data to predict 3000 different behavioral and psychological tendencies, such as how a person will choose between two brands.


an early walk. However, compared with the original data of the customer, from some questionnaires or user registration services, spent a lot of time to accumulate. Today, some internet companies, such as Facebook, are expanding rapidly in data accumulation, and Facebook says it can automate and live with the collection of personal information. The company's initial public offerings showed that every user on Facebook had about 111MB of images and video data, and Facebook now has more than 1 billion subscribers, a full 100PB (1PB=10242GB) personal data.


more worth mentioning is, now online, offline business integration into a trend, once the merchants began to cooperate, the whole merged to share large data, the user's privacy is really nowhere to hide. As early as February this year, Facebook has announced partnerships with a number of data agents, including Android, to build the link between the real world and virtual networks by consolidating their data resources. One months later, the chief science officer of Ahn said that their data had been linked to 90% of the social archives in the United States.


refuses to maliciously use personal privacy


large data is "double-edged sword", fast network, accurate marketing, although can bring people a more convenient way of life, but also let the protection of personal privacy almost become a pseudo proposition.


Today's big data marketing, for consumers, is like being stared at by a pair of eyes, every moment to spy on your movements. In the PC Terminal era, this pair of eyes may also only spy on your Internet trail, when you subscribe to an online service, by the way to send some promotional mail. In the current large data age of mobile Internet, this pair of eyes to spy on you, has been able to track real-time, what food to eat, see who, where the consumption of what ... There will be an overwhelming number of services or merchandise ads that are supposedly appropriate for you.


and not to say, the feeling of being monitored at times can make people feel insecure. Most of the time, even businesses are playing "more understand consumers" under the banner of so-called precision marketing, and not every time can bring consumers surprises. Some netizens complained: one time just out of curiosity, hand itch on Taobao search on the "coffin" two words, the next day, they are all kinds of funeral related products to promote information surrounding. Not only in Taobao, since Alibaba and Sina micro-blog cooperation, the Netizen several times to open Sina Weibo, side of the product promotion is all funeral products sales, "Sometimes suddenly ' jump ' out, it really makes people creepy."


this seems to be a normal consumer face. But this kind of situation, but also is based on the big data the excessive marketing, lets the consumer dislike, perhaps has not reached the "malicious" degree. Then, the hotel leaked consumer information, hundreds of thousands of policy information was leaked, express delivery on the day was sold, this is a shocking news, no one is not pointing to the mining of consumption data under the crazy commercial profit-driven behavior. These businesses not only malicious use of personal privacy data, but also to the consumer privacy rights of serious infringement.


the "war" between big data and personal privacy.


but as an individual consumer, we have long been unable to avoid their own personal privacy by the network system to remember, the business master and mining use. Even in the PC era, some users will take steps to keep the cookie from getting rid of their privacy while surfing the internet, but in fact many backstage software can still get your online records. Especially antivirus software, which in essence protects your privacy in a sense, but also gets your more comprehensive privacy data. Moreover, in a large data age based on mobile internet, through mobile device positioning, tracking, such as you with a mobile phone, the network background system through the sensor can know where you are, at the same time all kinds of data intersection, correlation, and based on the comprehensive analysis of global data, no matter when, backstage can clearly "know" Everyone.


insiders frankly, large data era, to protect personal privacy, so that users of individual privacy does not leak, technically difficult to do.


The only thing we can and must do is to keep the privacy of these users from being used maliciously by unscrupulous businesses and illegal institutions. On the one hand, this requires the government and industry regulators to strengthen supervision, whenever the discovery of malicious use of user privacy, and the user caused harm to the business, it is necessary to give severe punishment. On the other hand, the Chinese Academy of Sciences Information Research Center Secretary General Qiping had frankly, as far as the domestic situation is concerned, in addition to the regulatory difficulties brought about by the technology, the legislative lag also makes the regulation in an impossible state, "although there are relevant laws, but are very sketchy, internet companies know that even if it violates the privacy of users, the law can not do it." "Therefore, we must establish a sound personal privacy protection laws and regulations and basic rules."


in fact, not only China, but all countries face the same problem. Countries are also taking positive measures against the laws and regulations of privacy protection in large data ages. In 2012, the Obama administration unveiled the privacy bill, calling on companies to give more control to their users when using private information. The European Union has also introduced a bill on "forgotten powers", in which consumers have the right to require companies to clear their personal data, and so on.


Besides, technology is still a condition that cannot be neglected to protect personal privacy. Although the existing technical means are far from enough to protect personal privacy, we must actively encourage the development, innovation and use of privacy protection technologies. Hope that one day, to achieve from the technical level to protect the privacy of large data age, improve the user protection system.