In the future, will we sacrifice privacy for...

Let's face it, Google is not dumb.  Free tools aren't really free.  They come with a price.  Not a monitary cost, but privacy and data.  You want free google analytics, gmail, gtalk, or whatever else then you are acknowledging this intrusion is OK with you.

Bottomline, you are in control.  How much is FREE worth to you?

Al,

How far are you willing to go?
Where will you draw the line into the foreseeable Google future?

I think we're already there, or at least beginning to slide down that slippery slope. We seem to be willing - myself included - to sacrifice at least some privacy for convenience. The amount of information Google has about me is probably more than even I could imagine, and if Google were to come up with a persistent login that worked across all social networking sites and commerce sites, I'd probably sign up for it.

But what I think will also change is people's use of services acknowledging that they have sacrificed some of that privacy. Online, I do not write or do anything that I wouldn't necessarily want printed in a newspaper someday. Not that I ever plan on running for office or anything, but only that there are simply certain boundaries I won't cross, things I won't do or say, only because I don't want the machine to know that about me. If anything, I see that becoming the "reverse" trend to the sacrifice of privacy for convenience - we'll be willing to selectively inconvenience ourselves to maintain some degree of privacy.

I love how you turned the whole question on its head in the end of your comment.

"How much convenience will we be willing to sacrifice in order to maintain a little privacy?"

That indeed seems to be the question we will be asking ourselves in the Google dominated future. Kind of makes $600 a share seem almost affordable.

Thanks for the contribution.

Things like this should really start at home...

How many UK bloggers run a commercial blog but have no knowledge of data protection? (I am not sure about other countries)

Bloggers give away IP addresses

Bloggers often add commenters to mailing lists

I have seen people suggest that they should follow up with people who forgot to opt-in to their mailing lists

Feedburner is not CAN SPAM compliant

Andy,

So are you more concerned with the Pro-Am invasion of privacy and misuse of personal data than by Google's calculated use?

I suppose that with google, at least they are trying to be valuable to us where the Pro-Ams are just ignorant. Which do you think is worse or more damaging as the attention economy grows and personal data becomes more valuable?

I get scared when people are willing to hand over their Google Account details so that friends can be imported.

Maybe that is because I have Google tied to more than just my email

By making the process intuitive for the average user, so they don't have to export and import contacts, it causes massive security risks..

I am more interested in the things people can control themselves... and don't, than in things that almost impossible to have any control over.

You bring up a very interesting point.

I can absolutely see the value in sites letting us choose what data we choose to share to what other sites. I bet that will be (or already is) the intention of movements like openID.

So, with that in mind, the killer app in the future will allow you to both keep your private data private while still benefiting from the knowledge of your online attention and personal networks.

I think there are already some people working on recommendation engines to do this very thing.

Will google be that central location?

Will we trust Google to be the gatekeepers to our online identities?

Should we?

I currently draw the line where I can. I don't use Gmail, turned off web history, and I use Google Search without personalized search enabled (Firefox plugin). I don't like the fact that you have to 'opt out' of so many features that track and record information.

What do you mean by in the future? We are now. Google is the most powerful and knowledgeable company in the history on mankind. Think about the amount of information Google has on you. In my case they have all my emails, know what I like to read, have most of my business documents, knows what I bookmark (Google Bookmarks is great BTW) and what I search for.

Duncan, that's just it.

Google is already forcing people to draw the line (like our sans-avatar friend in the other comment). the question is that for those of us already committed to the Google way of life, like us, with our gcal, gmail, greader and gadsense, what future google tech will force us to draw the line?

Will it be the GPhone all the time GPS locator service?

Will you stop at letting Google know everything you watch on TV?

Will you let google listen you your in home ambient conversations in hopes it will make better product recommendations and search filters?

"in home ambient conversations"

HAHA, I think that is where I would stop.

Brian,

Ok, so that is where you think you draw the line.

What if they paid you every time a merchant was allowed to send you an offer based on that data?

What if they paid you just to be allowed to listen in?

What would that invasion be worth?

Hmm. I see a bit of difference in online convenience and offline convenience. I can potentially  stomach to a degree the fact they track many facets of my daily life such as email, personal searches, etc.

But you take that to the personal space within my house. I would not be fond of that, monetary compensation or not.

Google is beginning  to walk a thin line that didn't exist 3 yrs. ago. They need to be careful.

The Crickets are deafining on this question of mine.

Was this question too "out there"?
Is there a better way i could have framed it?
Is the topic simply not interesting to you guys?

well done - looks like this comment generated some interesting discussion.
by the way... i definitely sacrifice privacy for convenience on the web all the time.
am happy to do so... am certainly not hiding anything big anyway...

I'm with you Clay.

I already trust Google with way more than I'm comfortable with but presently, they are so useful to me, its worth it. So long as they continue to be worth it, I think we will happily let big brother watch over us.

The key for me though, is to have a healthy level of skepticism with Google and any other person or company i trust with my private information. So long as you have that and never let yourself get too delusional, you should be OK in the long run.

When people say trust is the most important factor for success in the online marketing universe, believe it.