Big Spaceship | Think Blog - For the Greater Good or Big Brother?

Nov 13, 2008

For the Greater Good or Big Brother?

Listening to the BBC on my morning commute the other day, I heard an interesting piece about Google's efforts to track flu outbreaks through the frequency of specific flu-related searches (flu symptoms, achy muscles, sore throat, etc). Google claims that through this system, they can predict flu outbreaks by more than 7-10 days than traditional methods done by the CDC.

Something to Think About: Are people comfortable with Google's efforts to publicize our searches? Even if it's for the greater good?

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Comments

Tina Glengary

Nov 15, 2008
Point well taken. It's not that I expect that my searches are private and Google is definitely NOT doing anything to violate privacy issues. And using the searches for good, like announcing flu outbreaks, is a helpful thing.

Just somewhere deep down, I'm kind of creeped out.

Mike Delosreyes

Nov 14, 2008
i wouldn’t go all travis bickle on Googlies if they publicized our searches - I was already under the assumption that they did. people shouldn't feel uncomfortable about this. it’s not like…hold on a sec, a banner ad for some contest just popped up and thinks that I can’t guess my own social security number. that prize is so mine.

Matt

Nov 13, 2008
I'm personally a huge fan of Google Trends. The data, regardless of whether it's for the greater good, provides incredible insight and transparency into public trends.

IMO, nothing on Google Trends violates consumer privacy issues. Website owners, however, might have a few more qualms (e.g., http://trends.google.com/websites?q=ebay.com,+craigslist.org)